hunch
[ huhnch ]
/ hʌntʃ /
verb (used with object)
to thrust out or up in a hump; arch: to hunch one's back.
to shove, push, or jostle.
verb (used without object)
to thrust oneself forward jerkily; lunge forward.
to stand, sit, or walk in a bent posture.
noun
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
instinct, premonition, intuition, inkling, stoop, huddle, squat, impression, foreboding, augury, portent, anticipation, hint, precognition, forecast, foreknowledge, suspicion, glimmer, presage, forewarning
Nearby words
- humvee,
- hun,
- hun-tun,
- huna bay,
- hunan,
- hunchback,
- hunchback of notre dame, the,
- hunchbacked,
- hunched,
- hund.
Origin of hunch
1590–1600; 1900–05 for def 5; apparently variant of obsolete hinch to push, shove, kick < ?
SYNONYMS FOR hunch
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for hunch
hunch
/ (hʌntʃ) /
noun
verb
to bend or draw (oneself or a part of the body) up or together
(intr usually foll by up) to sit in a hunched position
Word Origin for hunch
C16: of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
hunch
originally (c.1500) a verb, "to push, thrust," of unknown origin. Meaning "raise or bend into a hump" is 1670s. Perhaps a variant of bunch. The noun is attested from 1620s, originally "a push, thrust." Figurative sense of "hint, tip" (a "push" toward a solution or answer), first recorded 1849, led to that of "premonition, presentiment" (1904).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper