Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To squat close to the ground; crouch. Usually used with down:
  • intransitive verb To take shelter, settle in, or hide out. Usually used with down:
  • intransitive verb To hold stubbornly to a position. Usually used with down:
  • noun The haunches.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To stoop with the body resting upon the calves of the legs; squat.
  • noun In American politics, a conservative; one who opposes innovation or change; a fogy: first applied in the State of New York as a name to the conservative section of the Democratic party who opposed the Barnburners or radical section, about 1845. Also used adjectively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Political Cant, U.S. Originally, a nickname for a member of the conservative section of the Democratic party in New York; hence, one opposed to progress in general; a fogy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun dated A political conservative.
  • verb intransitive To crouch or squat close to the ground.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb sit on one's heels

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse hokra, to crouch.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originally Scottish. Origin unknown, but probably of Germanic origin, perhaps *hunk- or *huk-. Probable cognates include Old Norse húka, Dutch huiken, and German hocken.

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Examples

Comments

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  • One of Lizzie's favourites.

    January 2, 2007

  • JM squats down and applies himself assiduously to defining the good word 'hunker'

    February 1, 2009