shank

Meanings

Noun

• The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
• Meat from that part of an animal.
• 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.
• A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
• An improvised stabbing weapon; a shiv.
• A loop forming an eye to a button.
• The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph.
• A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.
• The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot.
• 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.

Verb

• To travel on foot.
• To stab, especially with an improvised blade.
• To remove another's trousers, especially in jest; to depants.
• To misstrike the ball with the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
• To hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction.
• To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; usually followed by off.
• To provide (a button) with a shank .
• To apply the shank to a shoe, during the process of manufacturing it.

Adjective

• Bad.

Origin

• 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 ("to limp").