noun
- the hip.
- the fleshy part of the body about the hip.
- a hindquarter of an animal.
- the leg and loin of an animal, used for food.
- Architecture.
- either side of an arch, extending from the vertex or crown to the impost.
- the part of a beam projecting below a floor or roof slab.
noun
- the human hip or fleshy hindquarter of an animal, esp a horse or similar quadruped
- the leg and loin of an animal, used for fooda haunch of venison
- Also called: hance architect the part of an arch between the impost and the apex
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.