A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1499-1600, 1658-1662
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Hanch(e, Hainche, n. Also: haunche; hench, henche, hensh, heance. [ME. hanche, haunche (a 1225), OF. hanche. The (b) forms correspond to the mod. dial. hainch, hench.] The haunch.(a) a1500 Henr. II. 264/187 (B).
Hurt in the hanch, and crukit a1500 Id. Test. Cress. 187.
On his hanche ane roustie fell fachioun c1500-c1512 Dunb. Flyt. 181.
Thy hanchis hirklis, with hukebanis harth and haw 1531 Bell. Boece I. p. xxxvii.
Infirmiteis … in the hanchis or lethis of men and wemen 1535 Stewart 215.
With corpolent corce and … hanchis braid 1570 Satirical Poems x. 18.
Ane woundit man … schot throw pudding & panche, Abone the nauil, and out abone the hanche 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Lumbus, the lonȝie or hanche(b) a1570-86 Dunb. Maitland Folio MS xii. 55.
Ane pyk-thank … With hoppir hippis and henches narrow 1564 Criminal Trials I. 437.
He … woundit the said Mr. Archibald, with ane speir in at his henche 1572-5 Diurnal of Occurrents 248.
My lord Regent … wes schote … throw the flank and aboue the henche 1574 Calderwood III. 327.
A heavie stone … which, howbeit some lift to their knee, some to their hainche, yea, some to their shoulder, [etc.] 1596 Dalr. II. 81/6.
King James … strukne in the hench or he was war 1600 Criminal Trials II. 156.
My lord fell on his henche and elbo 1658 R. Moray Lett. 3 Jan.
For wild fancy I suppose I may be hench point high with yourself 1662 Highland P. III. 17.
Ane uthyr [mark was found] up her hensh 1662 Ib. 18.
A spreit … griped her about the left hench 1662 Criminal Trials III. 609.
For the bean-shaw, or pain in the heance
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"Hanch n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/hanche>


