haunch
Other forms: haunches
A haunch is the back end of an animal — its rump and rear leg. When you walk behind a horse, it's important to stay far enough away from its haunches that you won't get kicked.
You can use the word haunch for the hind parts of a four-legged animal or for the hip and thigh of a person. When you squat like a catcher in baseball, you sit on your haunches, and a cow with an itchy backside might rub its haunch against a fence post. The word stems from hanche, which means "hip or thigh" in Old French, from a Germanic root.
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the loin and leg of a quadruped
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the hip and buttock and upper thigh in human beingstype of:body partany part of an organism such as an organ or extremity
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Vocabulary lists containing haunch
A boy named Salva struggles to survive after being separated from his family in war-torn Sudan. A girl named Nya spends hours each day collecting water for her parents and sister. Their lives eventually intersect in this novel based on a true story.
In the first book of the Warriors series, a house cat named Rusty joins up with a clan of wild cats.
In this collection of stories set in India, Rudyard Kipling introduces beloved characters such as Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the courageous mongoose.