hunch

Meanings

1. A hump; a protuberance.
2. A stooped or curled posture; a slouch.
3. A theory, idea, or guess; an intuitive impression that something will happen.
4. A hunk; a lump; a thick piece.
5. A push or thrust, as with the elbow.

1. To bend the top of one's body forward while raising one's shoulders.
2. To raise (one's shoulders) (while lowering one's head or bending the top of one's body forward); to curve (one's body) forward (sometimes followed by up).
3. To walk (somewhere) while hunching one's shoulders.
4. To thrust a hump or protuberance out of (something); to crook, as the back.
5. To push or jostle with the elbow; to push or thrust against (someone).
6. To have a hunch, or make an intuitive guess.

Etymology

Assibilated variant of hunk, of uncertain origin. Alternatively, a derivative of hump, via an earlier Middle English *hunche, *humpchin, from *hump + -chin, -chen (diminutive suffix), equivalent to hump + -kin. In the sense of an intuitive impression, said to be from the old gambling superstition that it brings luck to touch the hump of a hunchback.