Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shank in a sentence

35 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Shank means the part of the leg between the knee and the ankle. Example: “This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck.”

Examples of shank by meaning

nounA straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem.

  • The honest, rough piece of iron, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring, the stock, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank.1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published...

nounA protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached.

  • This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck.

nounA poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.

  • To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail.1953, Arnold Gingrich, The Esquire Treasury

nounAn improvised stabbing weapon, originally in prison, possibly from the strips of metal in shoes.

  • One of the shot callers' responsibilities was to control the shanks within the prison population—the crude homemade knives used for stabbing another prisoner.2019, Casey Diaz, Mike Yorkey, The Shot Caller […] , Emanate Books, →ISBN, page 76

nounThe main part or beginning of a period of time.

  • the shank of the morning
  • Why, it's only the shank of the evening, Mr.1945, Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, page 92

verbTo hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction.

  • Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport

verbTo provide (a button) with a shank (loop forming an eye).

  • The system is suitable for shanking all kind of sewn buttons (jackets, coats, blouses, shirts, trousers).2000, The Indian Textile Journal (volume 110, issues 7-12)

More sentences with shank

  • The unthreaded portion of the bolt's shank is called the grip.From the entry grip
  • As the crop gets bigger, the shank spacing on the cultivator will need to be adjusted accordingly.From the entry cultivator
  • He shanked him, now he's leaking.From the entry leak
  • He came out and smoked about my shank and then I juiced him.2026 May 2, “Back2Back” (0:50 from the start), performed by TrapBoyAddict x LD. From the entry bake off
  • Then get stuck into one of the char-grilled steaks, the sesame-encrusted tuna, or slow-cooked lamb shank.2011, Pippa de Bruyn, Keith Bain, Frommer's South Africa, unnumbered page. From the entry get stuck into
  • That was the end of the vehicle track: from then on it was shanks′s pony.1993, John Marsden, Tomorrow, When the War Began, page 18. From the entry shanks' pony
  • "I'll have you so your hams will stand out like horse's shanks!" de declared.1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 165. From the entry ham
  • On the a la carte menu are braised pork shank with pineapple-soy sauce, humba and several pansit-based dishes.2020 November 6, Pamela Silvestri, “Taste the Filipino flavor rainbow — right here on S.I.”, in Staten Island Advance, Staten Island…. From the entry humba
  • Preen the deer hair rearward around the hook shank, and take 3 tight thread wraps to secure it.2011, Jim Schollmeyer, Ted Leeson, Flies for Western Super Hatches, page 82. From the entry preen
  • Maximal control is achieved when the middle finger is kept between the instrument shank and the fourth finger.2011, Michael G. Newman, Henry Takei, Perry R. Klokkevold, Carranza's Clinical Periodontology, page 473. From the entry builtup
  • Hex head bolt length is always measured from the underside of the bolt head to the threaded tip of the shank.2008, Mike Mavrigian, High Performance Fasteners and Plumbing, →ISBN. From the entry head bolt
  • And for the next twenty minutes, he shanked every shot.2006, Butch Harmon, The Pro: Lessons from My Father About Golf and Life, Crown, →ISBN. From the entry shanker
  • There is the zeroah, a shank bone of a lamb.2000, Kevin Scully, Sensing the Passion: Reflections During Lent, →ISBN, page 70. From the entry zeroah
  • Father Fogen led the way, his skinny shanks a gleaming white as he kirtled his cassock about his thighs.1994, Diana Gabaldon, Voyager (Outlander Series; 3), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC. From the entry kirtle
  • Your Muscat Grapes are both shanked and scalded ; the latter can be easily remedied, but the former is more difficult.1904, William Robinson, The Garden. From the entry shanked
  • Here the string is double tenoned into the shanks of both newels, also relished between tenons and pinned into the shank.1903, Fred[erick] T[homas] Hodgson, “Fourth Method: Examples of Platform Stairs”, in Common-sense Stair Building and Handrailing […]…. From the entry relish
  • But what if there have been several stabbings with shanks made out of sharpened toothbrushes and the warden is threatening a lockdown?2016, Charles Wheelan, Naked Money: A Revealing Look at Our Financial System. From the entry mack
  • The final step in fitting the peg, after work with the reamer and peg shaper, is to apply peg dope to the peg shank.1997, Hideo Kamimoto, Complete Guitar Repair. From the entry peg dope
  • The drivehead is keyed and bolted to the armature shaft by the shank of the same bolt that holds the drivespring to the drivehead.1989, Larry D. Duggins, Aviation Support Equipment Technician 2, pages 6–10. From the entry drivehead
  • Place your thumb on top of the shank and your bent index finger under the hair and pull the tying thread tight to flair it.1988, Poul Jorgensen, Poul Jorgensen's Book of Fly Tying: A Guide to Flies for All Game Fish. From the entry flair
  • Also for business and formal wear, knee high's are preferable to shorties so that your shanks are not exposed when crossing your legs.1987, Jacob Israel Biegeleisen, Make Your Job Interview a Success: A Guide for the Career-Minded Job Seeker, Prentice Hall Trade, →ISBN…. From the entry shorties
  • Littler said he didn't shank it; rather he called it a soft pop-up, but us old hard-core shankers weren't so generous .1975, Blackie Sherrod, Scattershooting. From the entry shanker
  • I've shanked across the Old Man Plain, after busting up a cheque, And "whipped the cat" once more again, though I haven't met it yet.circa 1905, Anonymous Australian folk song, "The Ramble-eer". From the entry whip the cat
  • In different kinds of birds, the podotheca begins on the tibiotarsus (shank), on the ankle, or at some more distal level; it extends to the tips of the toes.2013, Donald S. Farner, James R. King, Avian Biology: Volume II, page 47. From the entry podotheca
  • More enticing are the sauerbraten, marinated in red wine; a Kasseler rippchen (smoked pork chop); and the fork-tender schweinshaxe pork shank, the restaurant’s premier dish ($12.50 to $19.50).2009 October 4, Christopher Brooks, “Hearty German Fare, and Beer”, in New York Times. From the entry rippchen
  • A variation of this is the well-known Matuka style, where the wing is secured to the shank, eliminating the possibility of the rear of the wing underwrapping the hook.1992, Lefty Kreh, Advanced Fly Fishing Techniques. From the entry underwrap
  • To prevent the hook from tumbling and coming out of the hoisting eye, a short lanyard on the pea of the counterbalance is figure-eighted around the shank and tip.1980, Naval Education and Training Program Development Center, Seaman, page 87. From the entry figure-eight

Meaning of shank

  1. noun The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
  2. noun Meat from that part of an animal.
  3. noun A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs.

Full definition of shank

Questions about shank in a sentence

How do you use shank in a sentence?
Shank is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck.”
What is a short sentence with shank?
“the shank of the morning”
What does shank mean?
Shank means the part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shank (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use shank in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.