haunch
/hɔːn(t)ʃ
/noun
1A buttock and thigh considered together, in a human or animal.They were built like cattle, with thick necks and big haunches....
- They are easily ten times stronger than a human of similar height: no steroids could make a man accumulate such muscle mass on shoulders, back and haunches.
- In the commentary to her plate, d' Arconville described the chest of the female as narrower, the spine more curved, and the haunches and pelvis larger in women than in men.
Synonyms
rump, rear, rear end, backside, seat;
buttocks, thighs, hips, hindquarters;
British bottom;
French derrière;
German Sitzfleisch
informal behind, sit-upon, stern, BTM, tochus, rusty dusty
British informal bum, botty, prat, jacksie
Scottish informal bahookie
North American informal butt, fanny, tush, tushie, tail, duff, buns, booty, caboose, heinie, patootie, keister, tuchis, bazoo, bippy
West Indian informal batty, rass
humorous fundament, posterior
British vulgar slang arse, clunge
North American vulgar slang ass
technical nates
archaic breech
1.1 [mass noun] The leg and loin of an animal, especially a deer, as food: haunch of venison...
- A dish guaranteed to tickle M. Chirac's tastebuds, he said, would be Pancetta-wrapped haunch of Fort William venison with wild mushrooms en croute in a tarragon sauce.
- Beyond this, Aertsen skillfully foreshortened objects never before honored with such attention: sausages, fish, a skinned ox head, a recumbent haunch.
- When he thought I had suffered enough, he reached into his trousers and brought out a giant slab of dried kudu haunch.
2 Architecture The side of an arch, between the crown and the pier.Lighting also differs between the spaces, from diffused light in the narrow galleries to reflected light onto the concrete haunches of the wider galleries....
- The girder trusses running in the north-south direction were designed as continuous trusses and had haunch ends at the column lines.
- A strengthening concrete haunch / slab was then cast over the arches before a textile and thick PVC-type waterproofing membrane was laid on the concrete bed.
Phrases
on one's haunches
Origin
Middle English: from Old French hanche, of Germanic origin.
Rhymes
- well-concocted
- well-conditioned
- well conducted
- well conductor
- well connected
- well-conned
- well conserved
- well-considered
- well-constituted
- well constructed
- well-content
- well-contented
- well contested
- well-contrived
- well-controlled
- well-cooked
- well-co-ordinated
- well-corked
- well-corned
- well-corrected
- well-couched
- well-counterfeited
- well covered
- well crafted
- well-crammed