hunker
Other forms: hunkered; hunkers; hunkering
To hunker is to crouch: to bend your body into a low, small shape. When you're playing hide and seek, you may decide to hunker in the back of a closet until you're found.
You hunker physically when you're hiding or making space for other people or squatting to talk to a small child. You can also hunker figuratively, like when you hunker down in your house during a snowstorm, waiting to venture out until the roads have been plowed. Another way to hunker down is to focus on a task and work extra hard. We know hunker is a Scottish word, but beyond that its origins aren't clear.
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sit on one's heels“The children hunkered down to protect themselves from the sandstorm”
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synonyms:
crouch, hunker down, scrunch, scrunch up, squat
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Vocabulary lists containing hunker
On a hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, thirteen-year-old Erin Rowe makes a new friend when they both get lost and must rely on each other to survive.
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