Haunch
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks on one side of a human, primate, or quadruped animal, especially one that can sit on its hindquarters.
"But I had no time to pursue these reflections; for the gray horse came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him into the third room where I saw a very comely mare, together with a colt and foal, sitting on their haunches upon mats of straw, not unartfully made, and perfectly neat and clean."
- 2 the loin and leg of a quadruped wordnet
- 3 The loin and leg of a quadruped, especially when used as food.
"Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they; / But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is—Obey!"
- 4 the hip and buttock and upper thigh in human beings wordnet
- 5 A squat vertical support structure.
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A jerked underhand throw. dialectal
- 1 To provide with a haunch or supporting structure. transitive
- 2 To throw with an underhand movement. dialectal, transitive
Example
More examples"But I had no time to pursue these reflections; for the gray horse came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him into the third room where I saw a very comely mare, together with a colt and foal, sitting on their haunches upon mats of straw, not unartfully made, and perfectly neat and clean."
Etymology
From Middle English haunche, hanche, from Old French hanche, hance, anche (compare French hanche, Italian anca), from a Germanic source, probably Frankish *ankijā, from Proto-Germanic *ankijǭ (“joint; ankle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ang- (“joint; lith”). Cognate with Old High German ancha, encha, einka (“the leg; joint, bend”) (compare Old High German anchila, enchila (“ankle”), German Hanke (“haunch”), West Frisian hancke (“haunch”). More at ankle.
Related phrases
More for "haunch"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.