to crouch or squat on one's heels.
He hunkered to be at eye level with his dog.
I can’t hunker with this bad knee.
to hunch.
The driver hunkered over the steering wheel.
to hide, hide out, or take shelter, often for just a few hours or less, as from a pursuer or a storm.
The escaped convicts hunkered in a cave in the mountains.
to settle in to the safety of one’s home or other designated shelter for a potentially prolonged time, as would be necessitated by a natural disaster or an outbreak of a contagious disease.
Many local residents hunkered in the basement of the fire station.
Slang. to lumber along; walk or move slowly or aimlessly.
A small black bear was seen hunkering through the neighborhood.
First recorded in 1710–20; apparently hunk (perhaps nasalized variant of huck “haunch”; akin to Old Norse hūka “to crouch”) + -er 6
An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; origin uncertain
To hunker is to crouch: to bend your body into a low, small shape. When you're playing hide and seek, you may decide to hunker in the back of a closet until you're found. You hunker physically when you're hiding or making space for other people or squatting to talk to a small child. You can also hunker figuratively, like when you hunker down in your house during a snowstorm, waiting to venture out until the roads have been plowed. Another way to hunker down is to focus on a task and work extra hard. We know hunker is a Scottish word, but beyond that its origins aren't clear.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hunker down, because here it comes: Risotto is not that hard.
From Salon • Jul. 2, 2023
The headline “The Hunker Games” was submitted independently by Kevin Dopart, Tom Witte and Beverley Sharp; Jesse Frankovich wrote the honorable-mentions subhead.
From Washington Post • Apr. 22, 2020
“Just go back home. Don’t worry about it. Hunker down.”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 26, 2017
Mr. Hunker was an adviser to Cliffs in its battle with Casablanca.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 4, 2015
All right," nodded Hunker; "I'll be there with the boys.
From Frank Merriwell's Son A Chip Off the Old Block by Standish, Burt L.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
