shank

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Middle English shanke, from Old English sceanca, from Proto-Germanic *skankōn (compare West Frisian skonk, Low German Schanke, Dutch/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 skázein 'to limp').

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æŋk

Adjective

shank (comparative shanker, superlative shankest)

1. (slang) Bad.

Noun

shank (plural shanks)

1. The lower part of the leg; shin.
2. Meat from that part of an animal.
3. A straight, narrow part of an object; shaft; stem.
4. The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck.
5. The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point.
6. A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached.
7. The metal part on a curb bit that falls below the mouthpiece of the bit, which length controls the severity of the leverage action of the bit, and to which the reins of the bridle are attached.
8. (sports) A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft. See thin,fat,toe.
9. (slang) An improvised stabbing weapon.

Derived terms

• greenshank
• umbroshank
• redshank
• shank-nag
• shank-weary
• shankbone - the bone of the foreleg
• shanks' nag
• shanks' mare
• shanks' pony
• Longshanks

Translations

lower part of the leg

• Arabic: عرقوب (ar) (ʕurquub) m

  Egyptian Arabic: عرقوب (ʕarʔuub) m

• Czech: bérec (cs) m
• Finnish: sääri (fi) (in humans), potka (fi) (in animals)

• German: Unterschenkel (de) m
• Portuguese: canela (pt) f
• Russian: голень (ru) (gólenʹ) f  (in humans), плюсна (ru) (pljusná) f  (in horses)
• Serbo-Croatian: potkoljenica f, gnjat (sh) m

meat from that part of animal

• Estonian: koot (et)
• Finnish: potka (fi), etupotka (fi) (front leg), takapotka (fi) (hind leg)

• German: Beinstück (de) m

straight, narrow part of an object

• Finnish: varsi (fi)

• Russian: стержень (ru) (stérženʹ) m 

protruding part of an object, by which it can be attached

• Finnish: kahva (fi), otin (fi), ripa (fi)

• Russian: хвостовик (ru) (xvostovík) m 

part of curb bit

• Finnish: varsi (fi)

an improvised stabbing weapon

• Spanish: pincho (es) m

Verb

shank (third-person singular simple present shanks, present participle shanking, simple past and past participle shanked)

1. (archaic, Ulster) to travel on foot
2. (slang) to stab, especially with an improvised blade
3. (slang) to remove another's pants, especially in jest; to depants
4. (transitive, chiefly golf, soccer) to hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction
   • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, 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.

5. (intransitive) To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; usually followed by off.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Darwin to this entry?)

Anagrams

• ankhs, hanks, khans, Naskh