Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The hip, buttock, and upper thigh in humans and certain other animals.
  • noun The loin and leg of a four-footed animal, especially as used for food.
  • noun Architecture Either of the sides of an arch, curving down from the apex to an impost.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To throw, as a stone, from the hand by jerking it against the haunch.
  • noun The fleshy part of the body, in men and quadrupeds, above the thigh, pertaining to each hipjoint and wing of the pelvis; the hip: as, a haunch of venison; the haunches of a horse.
  • noun The coxa or basal joint of the legs in insects and spiders.
  • noun The rear; the hind part.
  • noun The jamb or upright post of a door. See jamb.
  • noun In architecture, the middle part between the vertex or crown and the springing of an arch — sometimes used to include the spandrel or part of it; the flank. Also haunching.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The hip; the projecting region of the lateral parts of the pelvis and the hip joint; the hind part.
  • noun Of meats: The leg and loin taken together.
  • noun See Innominate bone, under Innominate.
  • noun (Arch.) the parts on each side of the crown of an arch. (See Crown, n., 11.) Each haunch may be considered as from one half to two thirds of the half arch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy The area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks on one side of a human, primate, or quadruped animal, especially one that is able to sit on its hindquarters.
  • noun The loin and leg of a quadruped, especially when used as food.
  • noun architecture A squat vertical support structure.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the hip and buttock and upper thigh in human beings
  • noun the loin and leg of a quadruped

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English haunche, from Old French hanche, from Frankish *hanka.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French, from a Germanic source, probably Frankish.

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Examples

  • Considering she called me “Hyatt” when she phoned with the appointment time, my haunch is my name got messed up on the file, which subsequently was misfiled – another insignificant medical error.

    Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt » 2007 » May 2007

  • The hip bones are large, irregularly shaped bones, very firm and strong, and are sometimes called the haunch bones or _ossa innominata_

    A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell

  • The short portion (A) which is left on the tenon is called the haunch, and the cavity it engages is termed the haunching.

    Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. William Fairham

  • The haunch is the prime joint, its perfection depending on the greater or less depth of the fat on it.

    The Story of Crisco Marion Harris Neil

  • The lettering in this figure is as follows: -- T, tenons; the small piece of the tenon lettered J is called the haunch, and the shaded portion H is cut away to allow the haunch J to fit the haunching of the stile.

    Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. William Fairham

  • Two old women were cutting meat off the haunch, meaning to dry it, and two young men, probably the ones who had stolen the horses, had caught another and were preparing to cut its throat.

    Lonesome Dove McMurtry, Larry 1985

  • Two old women were cutting meat off the haunch, meaning to dry it, and two young men, probably the ones who had stolen the horses, had caught another and were preparing to cut its throat.

    Lonesome Dove McMurtry, Larry 1985

  • "Bring up the little bag with the tea and a kettle of water," he called the next instant to his boatmen; "not forgetting the haunch of cariboo and the mixing-pan."

    THE GOD OF HIS FATHERS 2010

  • Curiously, in Dreams, Obama also remembers seeing a boy sitting “on the back of a dumb-faced water buffalo, whipping its haunch with a stick of bamboo.”

    Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011

  • Curiously, in Dreams, Obama also remembers seeing a boy sitting “on the back of a dumb-faced water buffalo, whipping its haunch with a stick of bamboo.”

    Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011

Comments

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  • The fog comes

    on little cat feet.

    It sits looking

    over harbor and city

    on silent haunches

    and then, moves on.

    - Carl Sandburg, 'Fog'.

    November 3, 2008