hunker

Meanings

Verb

• To crouch or squat close to the ground or lie down
• To apply oneself to a task

Noun

• A political conservative.

Related

Similar words

• crouch, squat, lie

Origin

• Originally Scottish. Origin uncertain, but probably of Germanic origin, perhaps *hunk- a nasalised variant of *huk- (compare Scots hoonk, hounk, variants of huk, hok; Scots hocker), all of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse huka, from Proto-Germanic *hūkan-, from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh₂, from *kewk- (also the source of high).
• Probable cognates include Old Norse húka, Dutch huiken, and German hocken.
• Unknown