shank
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃæŋk/
rhymes: -æŋk
Forms: form: shanks
Etymology: From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Dutch schenkel, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Danish skank, Norwegian skank, Swedish skänkel), 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”).
Senses: examples: text: Edward I of England was nicknamed Edward Longshanks.
text: His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide / For his shrunk shank […]
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene 7)]:
glosses: The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
glosses: Meat from that part of an animal.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
ornithology
glosses: A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs.
examples: text: 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. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up.
ref: 1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1906, →OCLC:
glosses: A straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem.
glosses: The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck.
glosses: The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point.
examples: text: This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck.
glosses: A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail.
ref: 1953, Arnold Gingrich, The Esquire Treasury:
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
qualifier: shoemaking
glosses: The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel.
qualifier: shoemaking
glosses: A metal strip strengthening the waists of shoes. (Also shankpiece.)
examples: text: LBC's tryna blackball me / And tryna blame your boy for knife crime (Like, what?) / I don't use a shank, I got money in the bank / Man, I'd rather do a drive-by
ref: 2017, Stormzy, Mura Masa, “Mr Skeng” (track 1), in Gang Signs & Prayer, performed by Stormzy:
text: One of the shot callers' responsibilities was to control the shanks within the prison population—the crude homemade knives used for stabbing another prisoner.
ref: 2019, Casey Diaz, Mike Yorkey, The Shot Caller […] , Emanate Books, →ISBN, page 76:
synonyms: shiv
related: word: yank
glosses: An improvised stabbing weapon, originally in prison, possibly from the strips of metal in shoes.
glosses: A loop forming an eye to a button.
topics: architecture
glosses: The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph.
topics: arts
crafts
engineering
hobbies
lifestyle
metallurgy
metalworking
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot.
glosses: Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round.
glosses: The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.
examples: text: the shank of the morning
text: AMANDA: Going now? You're joking! Why, it's only the shank of the evening, Mr. O’Connor!
ref: 1945, Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, page 92:
glosses: The main part or beginning of a period of time.
Derived terms: word: bit shank
word: greenshank
word: ham shank
word: Longshanks
word: redshank
topics: bone
anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: shankbone
raw_tags: of the foreleg
word: shank-iron
word: shank-nag
word: shank-painter
word: shanks' mare
word: shanks' nag
word: shanks' pony
word: shank-weary
word: umbroshank
word: velvet shank