hunch
hunch Lexical Profile
hunch Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A feeling or guess based on intuition rather than known facts.
"Acting on a sudden hunch, the detective decided to check the abandoned warehouse one more time."
A rounded, raised mass or hump, especially on a person's back, or a stooped posture.
"Years of working over a low drafting table had left him with a noticeable hunch in his shoulders."
A thick piece or lump of food, such as bread, cheese, or meat.
"The shepherd sat beneath a shady oak tree and ate a thick hunch of crusty bread with cheese."
• verb
To raise one's shoulders and bend the top of one's body forward in a curved or stooped posture.
"The passengers began to hunch their shoulders against the biting winter wind."
• Rhymes for hunch
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the late 16th century with the meaning 'to push or thrust', the word is of uncertain origin, possibly expressive or related to 'hunk'. The figurative sense of an intuitive premonition emerged in late 19th-century American English, originating from the gamblers' superstition that touching the hump of a hunchback brought good luck.