▪ I. haunch, n.1
(hɔːntʃ, hɑːntʃ)
Forms: 4–7 hanche, haunche, (5 honche), (Sc. 6 hench(e), 6–8 hanch, 6– haunch, (mod.Sc. hainch).
[a. OF. hanche (ONF. hanke), 12th c. in Hatz.-Darm. = Pr., Sp., It., Pg. anca hip, buttock of the horse, med.L. hancha (1275 in Du Cange), prob. of German origin: cf. OHG. anchâ (enchâ, einkâ) leg, lit. joint. It is only since the 18th c. that the spelling haunch has displaced hanch.]
1. a. The part of the body, in men and quadrupeds, lying between the last ribs and the thigh; the lateral expansions of the pelvis; of a horse, that part of the hind quarters which extends from the reins or the back to the hough or ham.
| a 1225 [see 6]. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9108 And noþer body, ne þe arme, Bledde neuer blode, colde ne warme, But was as drye wyþ al þe haunche, As of a stok were ryue a braunche. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1088 In þe haunche riȝt Tristrem was wounded sare. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 176 Bonys of haunchis ben maad fast wiþ þe lattere boon of þe rigboon. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 268 Thorugh herte, other thorugh honche, Wyth hys sper he wyll launche. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lx. 55 With hoppir hippis, and henches narrow. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Clunis..the buttocke or hanche. 1595 Gosson Quippes Upst. Gentlewom. 151 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 256 These hoopes, that hippes and haunch do hide. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. viii. 81 Strukne in the hench or he was war. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 130 The Rain-deer..are white not only on their belly but on their haunches. 1721–1800 Bailey, Hanch, the Hip, a Part of the Body. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 196 On their Haunches rear'd. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 118 The pelvis properly so called, or that expansion which constitutes the haunches. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 12 A fine black retriever..sat on his haunches, and watched him as he went to and fro. |
b. The leg and loin of a deer, sheep, or other animal, prepared for, or served at, table.
| 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 320 For bryngenge of halff a haunche. 1573–80 Baret Alv. H 66 An hanch of venison. a 1612 Harington Epigr. ii. li. 9, I was no ghest, Nor ever since did tast of side or haunch. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 482 ¶4 The best Pickle for a Walnut, or Sauce for an Haunch of Venison. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece ii. i. 292 When the Huntsmen come in to the Death of the Hart, they should cry, Ware Haunch, that the Hounds may not break in to the Deer. 1859 All Year Round No. 29. 57 Nowhere can the equal of a Sussex haunch or saddle be obtained. |
c. The pelvis as containing the womb. (Cf. Scriptural use of loins.)
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handie-crafts 778 O too fruitfull hanches! O wretched root! O hurtfull, hatefull branches! 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 693 A Vine, sprung from her hanches O'er-spread his Empire with its branches. |
d. fig. To hinder part, the latter end.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 92 A Summer Bird, Which euer in the haunch of Winter sings The lifting vp of day. |
e. Phrases. (See quot.)
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Putting him [a horse] upon his haunches..to couple him well, or to put him well together, or make him compact..To drag the haunches, is to change the leading foot in galloping. |
2. The coxa or basal joint of the leg in insects, spiders, and crustaceans.
| 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 314 The two anterior feet much larger than the others, with long haunches. Ibid., Anterior legs with a blackish blue spot on the internal side of the haunches. 1834 McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 302 Xyphosura..the haunches of the first six pair of feet are covered with small spines, and perform the office of jaws. |
3. a. Arch. The side of an arch between the crown and the piers, the flank; = hance n. 3, q.v. Hence the corresponding part of any arched figure.
| 1793 Sir G. Shuckburgh in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 87 note, When the arch had stood two years, the haunches were filled up with bricks. 1812–16 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 230 Let the substance of the rope, on the convex side, be increased in some parts, for example at the haunches; it will then no longer describe a catenary. 1877 L. Jewitt Half-hrs. among Eng. Antiq. 158 The decorations upon bells consist of encircling inscriptions, usually on the haunch. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mechanic §1173 The sides of the arch between the crown and the piers are called its haunches or flanks. |
b. The side of a made-up road.
| 1937 [see haunching 2]. |
4. Naut. a. (See quot. 1823). b. = hance n. 2 a.
| 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., Haunch, (Mar.) a sudden decrease in the size of a piece of timber. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Haunch, a sudden fall or break, as from the drifts forward and aft to the waist. The same as hance. |
c. The end of a tenon reduced in width. So haunched a., (of a tenon) having its end reduced in width.
| 1885 Spons' Mech. Own Bk. 276 The haunched tenon [is used] when the edge of the piece on which the tenon is formed is required to be flush with the end of the piece containing the mortice. 1904 A. C. Passmore Handbk. Techn. Terms, Haunch, the wide part left close to the root when part of a tenon is cut away. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 282/1 Haunched tenon, a tenon cut back in its width to allow for wedging. 1964 W. L. Goodman Hist. Woodworking Tools 53 The joints themselves are stub tenons, haunched and pinned in a very modern manner. |
5. A mechanical contrivance for lowering one end of a wine-cask while drawing off the contents.
6. attrib. and Comb., as † haunch-evil, haunch-hoop, haunch-joint; haunch-vent Sc. (see quot. 1824); (from sense 3), as haunch-stone. Also haunch-bone.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 280 Hu ueole þe grimme wrastlare of helle breid up on his hupe, and werp, mid þe haunche turn, into golnesse. 1562 Turner A ij b, Baths, Names of Siknesses The sciatica or hanchevel. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Henchvents, the same with ‘gores’, pieces of linen put into the lower parts of a shirt..to give ‘vent’ or room for the ‘haunch’. 1824 R. Chambers Trad. Edin. (1825) II. 59 There were the breast-knots, two hainch-knots, (at which there were also buttons for looping up the gown behind). 1826 Scott Jrnl. (1890) I. 98 A venerable lady who always wore a haunch-hoop. 1828 ― F.M. Perth xxxiii, Henry..swung the ponderous implement far behind his right haunch joint. 1883 Surv. W. Palestine III. 407 With narrow key-stone and broad haunch-stones. |
Hence ˈhaunchless a., not having haunches. ˈhaunchy a., having prominent haunches.
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son xcvii. (1890) 394 Greasy and haunchy brutes. 1834 Fraser's Mag. IX. 300 Ill-cut, and haunchless shape. |
▪ II. haunch, n.2
(Sc. hainch):
see under haunch v.3
▪ III. † haunch, v.1 Obs. rare.
[f. haunch n.1]
trans. To bring down (a deer, etc.) upon its haunches.
| 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 256 When the said King John saw a faire bucke haunched. |
▪ IV. haunch, v.2
[f. haunch n.1 4 a.]
trans. To reduce in thickness. intr. Of a piece of timber: To decrease suddenly in thickness.
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 4 Cleats..are haunched on the back with a hollow. Ibid. 31 The square..haunches from thence into the round. |
▪ V. haunch, v.3
In Sc. hainch, hench.
[f. haunch n.1 1, in Sc. hainch, hench.]
trans. To throw with an underhand movement, the arm being jerked against the haunch; ‘to elevate by a sudden jerk’ (Jam.).
| 1788 E. Picken Poems 75 (Jam.) To hainch a chield aboon the moon. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Haunch, Hainch, to throw; as a stone from the hand by jerking it against the haunch. 1894 Crockett Raiders 110 With a pebble cunningly ‘henched’. |
Hence haunch, Sc. hainch, hainsh n., a jerked underhand throw; hauncher, Sc. haincher, hencher; haunching, henching vbl. n.
| 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Hainching, throwing, by springing the arm on the haunch. 1843 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. ii. 54 The bowl..launched in the manner which in Scotland is called a hainsh, being precisely the fashion after which the Greek Δισκος was impelled. Ibid. 58 The bowls were sometimes thrown by raising the arm..but more frequently they were propelled in the hainshing mode. 1863 J. Brown Biggar, in John Leech, etc. (1882) 328 A dextrous hencher of stones. 1894 Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet 310 Throwing stones at them in the manner known as ‘henchin’. |