haunch








noun

  1. the hip.
  2. the fleshy part of the body about the hip.
  3. a hindquarter of an animal.
  4. the leg and loin of an animal, used for food.
  5. Architecture.
    1. either side of an arch, extending from the vertex or crown to the impost.
    2. the part of a beam projecting below a floor or roof slab.

noun

  1. the human hip or fleshy hindquarter of an animal, esp a horse or similar quadruped
  2. the leg and loin of an animal, used for fooda haunch of venison
  3. Also called: hance architect the part of an arch between the impost and the apex
n.

early 13c., from Old French hanche (12c.) “hip, thigh; haunch,” from a Germanic source, perhaps Frankish *hanka (cf. Old High German hinkan “to limp,” ancha “leg,” literally “joint;” Middle Dutch hanke “haunch”). “It is only since the 18th c. that the spelling haunch has displaced hanch” [OED]. Related: Haunches.

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