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.
“If there is no future that includes a path for them right now, their better option is to hunker down.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Determined to survive, Iran might initially hunker down or seek to draw out any conflict.
From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026
Epstein replied, “Nothing to do during a storm, but hunker down, and wait until it blows over.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
"We'll get through it and we'll hunker through it and it'll be fine."
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026
She'd hunker down with me and read one of the stories with tough words in it.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Hunker down, because here it comes: Risotto is not that hard.
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2023
“Get to him discreetly. Hunker down. And then fly right back and go to set. Just rinse and repeat, constantly.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2022
“There are times where an ambulance will take 10 to 15 minutes just to get three blocks from one side of Times Square,” said Donald Hunker, a member of the unit.
From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2017
“Just go back home. Don’t worry about it. Hunker down.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2017
Jerry Hunker was pinned to the sod where he lay fast asleep.
From Cobwebs from an Empty Skull by Bierce, Ambrose
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.
