Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To squat close to the ground; crouch. Usually used with down: hunkered down to avoid the icy wind.
- v. To take shelter, settle in, or hide out. Usually used with down: hunkered down in the cabin during the blizzard.
- v. To hold stubbornly to a position. Usually used with down: "As the White House hunkered down, G.O.P. congressional unity started crumbling” ( Time).
- n. The haunches.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To stoop with the body resting upon the calves of the legs; squat.
- n. 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.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive To crouch or squat close to the ground.
- n. dated A political conservative.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- v. sit on one's heels
Etymologies
- Unknown (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse hokra, to crouch. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The entire country, it seems, is in hunker-down mode.”
“You didn't use the word hunker and I'm very proud of you.”
“I heard the word "hunker" = squat on your haunches (I think Richard Boone used that in a movie somewhere).”
“How many times did the soon ex-gov. of alaska say "hunker" in her resignation/moving forward speech? too many thats for sure. a person of power (or those wishing to be) should stick to words that are actually IN the dictionary.”
Eight months after Election Day, Franken reaches Capitol Hill
“It would be apathetic to kind of hunker down and go with the flow.”
“It would be apathetic to just kind of hunker down and go with the flow.”
“But at the same time, I think a lot of people maybe who are having personal issues kind of hunker down at work, I suppose, Brian.”
“I can't go anywhere but I better figure out a way to kind of hunker down and say my prayers and hope that everything works out OK.”
“We had brought enough gear just in case Saturday wasn't bad, we would just kind of hunker down for the day and maybe Sunday would be better, but -- so we had food and gear for two nights up there.”
“There's that word, "hunker" down, I was trying not to use.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hunker’.
-
kickassery
words that kick ass, in the non-literal sense
keraunophilia, vituperative, archnemesis, megafauna, Brontotherium, haruspex, vainglory, immanent, tarasque, aurochs, fraktur, photophore and 88 more...
-
Capitonyms, capitonyms
Words that change meaning when capitalized
worms, welsh, turkey, time, tangier, tang, slough, seat, scotch, scone, said, russian and 70 more...
-
Chennessy's Words
philistine, messianic, dyad, cult, bourgeois, blot, ploy, polyglot, lingua franca, cumbersome, lumber, petit-bourgeois and 446 more...
-
Prep my Lang
Collection of my wordnik word search
equivocal, anomaly, proliferate, assimilate, obscure, aberration, parse, circumnavigate, circumvent, decipher, prose, impasse and 94 more...
-
whatever1013's Words
chocolate, sesquipedalophobia, discombobulated, callipygian, retronym, squirm, cobalt blue, plethora, onomatopoeia, blowhard, strumpet, shush and 173 more...
-
sillygoose's Words
nefarious, waffle, dilettante, love, obstreperous, suggestible, fodder, plucky, trajectory, eclectic, juggernaut, demure and 115 more...
-
Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
-
As soon as I finish this chapter
x
procrastination, drily, rheumatism, rheum, suint, tiresome, wearisome, tiring, suboptimal, subpar, subprime, grange and 190 more...
-
amber words
amber words is the term I use for words that are all but fossilized, in the sense that their use is always in the context of a single expression. Examples include caboodle, dudgeon, umbrage
sanctum, akimbo, amok, riddance, druthers, trove, caboodle, immemorial, blithering, dudgeon, swaddling, askance and 110 more...
-
Winter's Bone vocabulary
Study list of difficult words from Daniel Woodrell's novel Winter's Bone. In reverse order: start at the bottom to see words from the beginning of the novel!
plaid, lazy susan, lope, furtive, dour, scamper, hard-boiled, implacable, dainty, stomp, resignation, crank and 138 more...
-
obscure words
Words which I have some trouble comprehending or finding a synonym.
truculent, wheedle, iniquitous, brusque, pellucid, demur, peremptory, spiel, bathos, rigmarole, glower, scabrous and 107 more...
-
_mark's list
Words I like!
( personal list, favorite words, randomness )psy, nanobot, success, smack, vibration, microcosmic, springgraph, marksmanship, estranged, homoerotic, flex, fiasco and 1707 more...
-
jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
-
mdoar's Words
vicissitudes, phlebotomist, diffability, proleptic, jetsam, gallimaufry, grunion, strappleberry, hunker, thwart, thwack, thwaite and 5 more...
-
words I fucking hate
feet, moist, gout, food, squirt, preggers, cummerbund, stoked, wonky, bugaboo, chunk, loin and 27 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hunker.
jmjarmstrong JM squats down and applies himself assiduously to defining the good word 'hunker' Feb 1, 2009
mdoar One of Lizzie's favourites. Jan 2, 2007