haunches

Noun

haunch (plural haunches)

1. The area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks on one side of a human, primate, or quadruped animal, especially one that can sit on its hindquarters.
   • But I had no time to pursue these reflections; for the gray horse came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him into the third room where I saw a very comely mare, together with a colt and foal, sitting on their haunches upon mats of straw, not unartfully made, and perfectly neat and clean.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms)
2. The loin and leg of a quadruped, especially when used as food.
   • Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they; / But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is—Obey!1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, “The Law of the Jungle”, in The Second Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 25
3. A squat vertical support structure.
4. (dialectal) A jerked underhand throw.

See all 6 meanings of haunch