Word: shank Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Inherited from Middle English sceonke, schank, schanke, shanke, schonke, sconke, sschanke, from Old English sċanca, sċeanca, sċeonca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (“shank; thigh”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (“to hobble, limp; to tilt”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian skonk (“leg”), Dutch schenkel (“shank”), German and Luxembourgish Schenkel (“thigh”), Danish skank (“shank; leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk skank, skonk (“thigh; foot”), Swedish skank, skånk (“leg”); also Cornish kamm (“pace, step”), Irish céim (“pace, step”), Manx keim (“degree, pace, stage, step”), Scottish Gaelic ceum (“pace, step”), Welsh cam (“pace, step”), Greek σκάω (skáo), σκάζω (skázo, “to burst, explode”), Bulgarian and Macedonian шега́ (šegá, “jest, joke; prank”). Pronunciation: /ˈʃæŋk/, [ˈʃʰæŋk], /ˈʃeɪ̯ŋk/, [ˈʃʰeɪ̯ŋk], /ˈʃɛ̃ŋk/ 1. The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle. Example: Edward I of England was nicknamed Edward Longshanks. Example: His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide / For his shrunk shank […] 2. Meat from that part of an animal. 3. A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs. Labels: colloquial 4. A straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem. Example: 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. 5. The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck. 6. The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point. 7. A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached. Example: This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck. 8. 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. 9. A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft. Example: To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail. 10. The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel. 11. A metal strip strengthening the waists of shoes. (Also shankpiece.) 12. An improvised stabbing weapon, originally in prison, possibly from the strips of metal in shoes. Labels: slang Example: 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 Example: One of the shot callers' responsibilities was to control the shanks within the prison population—the crude homemade knives used for stabbing another prisoner. 13. A loop forming an eye to a button. 14. The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph. 15. A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it. 16. The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot. Labels: dated 17. Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round. 18. The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time. 19. The main part or beginning of a period of time. Example: the shank of the morning Example: AMANDA: Going now? You're joking! Why, it's only the shank of the evening, Mr. O’Connor!