shank
English
Etymology
From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Norwegian skank), from *skankaz (compare Old Norse skakkr (“wry, crooked”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (compare Middle Irish scingim (“I spring”), Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃæŋk/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æŋk
Noun
shank (plural shanks)
- The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, As you like it:
- His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide / For his shrunk shank […] (II.7)
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- Meat from that part of an animal.
- (ornithology, colloquial) A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs.
- A straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem.
- The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck.
- The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point.
- A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached.
- The metal part on a curb bit that falls below the mouthpiece, which length controls the severity of the leverage action of the bit, and to which the reins of the bridle are attached.
- (golf) A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
- 1953, Arnold Gingrich, The Esquire Treasury:
- To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail.
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- (slang) An improvised stabbing weapon.
- Synonym: (slang) shiv
- 2019, Casey Diaz; Mike Yorkey, The Shot Caller […] , Emanate Books, →ISBN, page 76:
- One of the shot callers' responsibilities was to control the shanks within the prison population—the crude homemade knives used for stabbing another prisoner.
- A loop forming an eye to a button.
- (architecture) The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph[18th century].
- (metalworking) A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.
- (printing, dated) The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot.
- (shoemaking) The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel.
- Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round.
- The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.
- The main part or beginning of a period of time.
- the shank of the morning
- 1945, Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, page 92:
- AMANDA: Going now? You're joking! Why, it's only the shank of the evening, Mr. O’Connor!
Derived terms
Derived terms
- greenshank
- Longshanks
- redshank
- shankbone - the bone of the foreleg
- shank-nag
- shanks' mare
- shanks' nag
- shanks' pony
- shank-weary
- umbroshank
Translations
lower part of the leg
|
meat from that part of animal
|
straight, narrow part of an object
|
The centre part of a fishhook
|
protruding part of an object, by which it can be attached
|
part of curb bit
|
an improvised stabbing weapon
|
a bird of the genus Tringa
|
Verb
shank (third-person singular simple present shanks, present participle shanking, simple past and past participle shanked)
- (archaic, Ulster) To travel on foot.
- (slang) To stab, especially with an improvised blade.
- (slang) To remove another's trousers, especially in jest; to depants.
- (transitive, golf) To misstrike the ball with the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
- (transitive, chiefly tennis, soccer, gridiron football) To hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction.
- 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:
- 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.
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- (intransitive) To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; usually followed by off.
- 1861, Charles Darwin, Cause of the variation of flowers
- the gerrnens of these swelled, and on four out of the six I have now got fine pods, above 1% inch in length, with the seeds externally visible; whereas the flower stalks of the many other flowers all shanked off.
- 1861, Charles Darwin, Cause of the variation of flowers
- (transitive, sewing) To provide (a button) with a shank (loop forming an eye).
- 2000, The Indian Textile Journal (volume 110, issues 7-12)
- 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)
- (shoemaking) To apply the shank to a shoe, during the process of manufacturing it.
- 1986 March 6, "Factory Work" [Poetry, 147], quoted in 2009, Deborah Boe, The Girl of the Early Race: Poems, Gegensatz Press (→ISBN):
- I take those metal shanks, slide the backs of them in glue and make them lie down on the shoe-bottoms, […] Last week they ran a contest to see which shankers shanked fastest. I'm not embarrassed to say I beat them all.
- 1986 March 6, "Factory Work" [Poetry, 147], quoted in 2009, Deborah Boe, The Girl of the Early Race: Poems, Gegensatz Press (→ISBN):
Synonyms
- (to stab with an improvised weapon): shiv (slang)
- (to remove another's pants): depants (slang)
Adjective
shank (comparative shanker, superlative shankest)
- (slang) Bad.
See also
- shank it
- (poorly played golf shot): thin, fat, toe
Anagrams
- Hanks, Naskh, ankhs, hanks, khans