hunch

[huhnch] /hʌntʃ/
verb (used with object)
1.
to thrust out or up in a hump; arch:
to hunch one's back.
2.
to shove, push, or jostle.
verb (used without object)
3.
to thrust oneself forward jerkily; lunge forward.
4.
to stand, sit, or walk in a bent posture.
noun
5.
a premonition or suspicion; guess:
I have a hunch he'll run for reelection.
6.
a hump.
7.
a push or shove.
8.
a lump or thick piece.
Origin
1590-1600; 1900-05 for def 5; apparently variant of obsolete hinch to push, shove, kick < ?
Can be confused
haunch, hunch.
Synonyms
5. surmise, feeling, theory, conjecture.
Examples from the web for hunch
  • Lab rodents were the first trial subjects to test the idea, but studies in humans have backed up the hunch.
  • There's no better feeling in fantasy than having a hunch about a prospect who comes up big for you during the season.
  • On that hunch she initiated a guest-speaker program that immediately ignited postings and increased list subscriptions.
  • Too often in experimental psychology the results merely serve to validate a hunch rather than prove a relationship.
  • If you think you know the meaning of a word, go with your hunch.
  • As a result, hundreds of millions of dollars are punted regularly on little more than a studio executive's hunch.
  • Furthermore, his speculative hunch about the evolution of these blue butterfly turns out to have been exactly right.
  • Pragmatic is still undecided, but my hunch is that she will go elsewhere.
  • The new data, which are much more comprehensive than figures put out by governments, confirm their hunch.
  • My hunch is that it is missing because a clear cut distinction may not exist.
British Dictionary definitions for hunch

hunch

/hʌntʃ/
noun
1.
an intuitive guess or feeling
2.
another word for hump
3.
a lump or large piece
verb
4.
to bend or draw (oneself or a part of the body) up or together
5.
(intransitive) usually foll by up. to sit in a hunched position
Word Origin
C16: of unknown origin
Word Origin and History for hunch

originally (c.1500) a verb, "to push, thrust," of unknown origin. Meaning "raise or bend into a hump" is 1670s. Perhaps a variant of bunch. The noun is attested from 1620s, originally "a push, thrust." Figurative sense of "hint, tip" (a "push" toward a solution or answer), first recorded 1849, led to that of "premonition, presentiment" (1904).

Slang definitions & phrases for hunch

hunch

modifier

: This was too good a hunch play to let drop

noun

An intuitive premonition; a shrewd idea or notion: I gotta hunch she won't come back

verb

: As I hunch it, the answer is triple

[1904+; said to be fr a gamblers' belief that touching a hunchback's hump would bring good luck]