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Shank

//ʃæŋk// adj, name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective

1
Bad. slang

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Noun

1
The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
"Edward I of England was nicknamed Edward Longshanks."
2
a poor golf stroke in which the heel of the club hits the ball wordnet
3
Meat from that part of an animal.
4
lower part of the leg extending from the hock to the fetlock in hoofed mammals wordnet
5
A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs. colloquial

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6
the narrow part of the shoe connecting the heel and the wide part of the sole wordnet
7
A straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem.
"The honest, rough piece of iron, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring, the stock, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up."
8
cylinder forming the part of a bit by which it is held in the drill wordnet
9
The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck.
10
cylinder forming the part of a bolt between the thread and the head wordnet
11
The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point.
12
cylinder forming a long narrow part of something wordnet
13
A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached.
"This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck."
14
the part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle wordnet
15
The metal part on a curb bit that falls below the mouthpiece, which length controls the severity of the leverage action of the bit, and to which the reins of the bridle are attached.
16
a cut of meat (beef or veal or mutton or lamb) from the upper part of the leg wordnet
17
A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
"To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail."
18
The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel.
19
A metal strip strengthening the waists of shoes. (Also shankpiece.)
20
An improvised stabbing weapon, originally in prison, possibly from the strips of metal in shoes. slang
"LBC's tryna blackball me / And tryna blame your boy for knife crime (Like, what?) / I don't use a shank, I got money in the bank / Man, I'd rather do a drive-by"
21
A loop forming an eye to a button.
22
The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph.
23
A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.
24
The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot. dated
25
Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round.
26
The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.
27
The main part or beginning of a period of time.
"the shank of the morning"

Verb

1
To travel on foot. Ulster, archaic
2
hit (a golf ball) with the heel of a club, causing the ball to veer in the wrong direction wordnet
3
To stab, especially with an improvised blade. slang
4
To remove another's trousers, especially in jest; to depants. slang
5
To misstrike the ball with the part of the club head that connects to the shaft. transitive

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6
To hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction. transitive
"Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal."
7
To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; usually followed by off. intransitive
"the gerrnens of these swelled, and on four out of the six I have now got fine pods, above 1% inch in length, with the seeds externally visible; whereas the flower stalks of the many other flowers all shanked off."
8
To provide (a button) with a shank (loop forming an eye). transitive
"The system is suitable for shanking all kind of sewn buttons (jackets, coats, blouses, shirts, trousers)."
9
To apply the shank to a shoe, during the process of manufacturing it.
"I take those metal shanks, slide the backs of them in glue and make them lie down on the shoe-bottoms, […] Last week they ran a contest to see which shankers shanked fastest. I'm not embarrassed to say I beat them all."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Dutch schenkel, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Danish skank, Norwegian skank, Swedish skänkel), from *skankaz (compare Old Norse skakkr (“wry, crooked”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (compare Middle Irish scingim (“I spring”), Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

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