Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to hunch
Participle: hunched
Gerund: hunching
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | hunch |
| you | hunch |
| he;she;it | hunches |
| we | hunch |
| you | hunch |
| they | hunch |
Perfect
| I | have hunched |
| you | have hunched |
| he;she;it | has hunched |
| we | have hunched |
| you | have hunched |
| they | have hunched |
Past
| I | hunched |
| you | hunched |
| he;she;it | hunched |
| we | hunched |
| you | hunched |
| they | hunched |
Pluperfect
| I | had hunched |
| you | had hunched |
| he;she;it | had hunched |
| we | had hunched |
| you | had hunched |
| they | had hunched |
Future
| I | will hunch |
| you | will hunch |
| he;she;it | will hunch |
| we | will hunch |
| you | will hunch |
| they | will hunch |
Future Perfect
| I | will have hunched |
| you | will have hunched |
| he;she;it | will have hunched |
| we | will have hunched |
| you | will have hunched |
| they | will have hunched |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | hunch |
| you | hunch |
| he;she;it | hunch |
| we | hunch |
| you | hunch |
| they | hunch |
Perfect
| I | have hunched |
| you | have hunched |
| he;she;it | have hunched |
| we | have hunched |
| you | have hunched |
| they | have hunched |
Imperfect
| I | hunched |
| you | hunched |
| he;she;it | hunched |
| we | hunched |
| you | hunched |
| they | hunched |
Pluperfect
| I | had hunched |
| you | had hunched |
| he;she;it | had hunched |
| we | had hunched |
| you | had hunched |
| they | had hunched |
Conditional
Present
| I | would hunch |
| you | would hunch |
| he;she;it | would hunch |
| we | would hunch |
| you | would hunch |
| they | would hunch |
Perfect
| I | would have hunched |
| you | would have hunched |
| he;she;it | would have hunched |
| we | would have hunched |
| you | would have hunched |
| they | would have hunched |
Imperative
| you | hunch |
| we | Let's hunch |
| you | hunch |
Verbs conjugated like 'hunch'
abash,
abolish,
abroach,
accomplish,
accroach,
address,
admix,
admonish,
ado,
adpress,
affamish,
affix,
alloo,
amass,
ambush,
anguish,
annex,
appeach,
appears,
approach, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'hunch'
bunch,
gunch,
hanch,
haunch,
hench,
hutch,
lunch,
munch,
punch,
runch,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- To make an intuitive guess.
- suppose
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. originally (1581) a verb, "to push, thrust," of unknown origin. Meaning "raise or bend into a hump" is 1598, in hunchbacked. Perhaps a variant of bunch. Figurative sense of "hint, tip" (a "push" toward a solution or answer), first recorded 1849, led to that of "premonition, presentiment" (1904).
2. Assibilated variant of hunk, of uncertain origin.
3. 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.
Sample Sentences
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Don't hunch over your computer if you want to avoid neck problems.
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Sandy, you will never get anywhere by hunching over your putter, hold your shoulders back and bend from the waist. [1961, Muriel Spark, chapter 5, in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, New York: HarperPerenniel, published 1994, page 156:]
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She rolled over and hunched into a fetal position. [1978, Armistead Maupin, “… and many happy returns”, in Tales of the City, New York: Ballantine Books, page 76:]
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They stood outside the door hunching themselves against the rain and puffing on their cigarettes.
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He hunched up his shoulders and stared down at the ground.
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Danc[ing] Mast[er]. […] not too fast […] keep you[r] leg[s] straight, […] don’t hunch up your shoulders so; [1672, Edward Ravenscroft, The Citizen Turn’d Gentleman, London: Thomas Dring, act I, scene 1, page 4:]
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If you hunch your shoulders too long against a storm your shoulders will grow bowed.... [1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not ..., New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Part 2, Chapter 2:]
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1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, New York: Scribner, Chapter 17,
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He would hunch his twisted body close and put out his gentle and crooked hand and touch the fawn.
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They sat looking out at the dark, at the square of light the kitchen lantern threw on the ground outside the door, with a hunched shadow of Grampa in the middle of it. [1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 10, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York: Viking, published 1958, page 142:]
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[…] the figure hunched up the road. [1955, J. P. Donleavy, chapter 2, in The Ginger Man, New York: Dell, page 9:]
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[…] once we had hunched in out of the sun and slunk through a cold pork-and-beans-on-bread lunch […] my brother and I found a desert creek nearby and heaved rocks at each other to cool off. [1969, Ray Bradbury, “The Inspired Chicken Motel”, in I Sing the Body Electric, New York: Knopf, page 57:]
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1983, Jack Vance, Suldrun’s Garden, Spatterlight Press, 2012, Chapter 18,
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[…] wheezing and grunting he hunched across the room.
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[…] thou art all one errour; soul and body.
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The first young tryal of some unskill’d Pow’r;
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Rude in the making Art, and Ape of Jove.
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Thy crooked mind within hunch’d out thy back;
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And wander’d in thy limbs: [1679, John Dryden, Nathaniel Lee, Oedipus, London: R. Bentley and M. Magnes, act I, page 6:]
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After this, we saw a great Troop of Women upon the High-way to Hell, with their Bags; and their fellows, at their Heels, ever, and anon, hunching, and Justling one Another. [1667, “The Sixth Vision of Hell”, in Roger L’Estrange, transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, London: H. Herringman, pages 182–183:]
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Hickman, a great over-grown, lank-hair’d, chubby boy, who would be hunch’d and punch’d by every-body; and go home, with his finger in his eye, and tell his mother. [1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London, Volume 2, Letter 1, p. 8:]
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He let his eyes scan the faces of all the white teachers, male and female, but would end up with a stare at the colored man sitting there. Finally, he hunched his seat-mate with his elbow and asked what man that was. [1899, Sutton E. Griggs, chapter 6, in Imperium in Imperio:]
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She hunched me and winked. [1974, Maya Angelou, chapter 12, in Gather Together in My Name, New York: Bantam, published 1975, page 40:]
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[…] Crunch burst through, pretending to be in Croke Park or somewhere, hunching me away with his shoulder and holding the ghost of other players at bay as he picked up the football. [1986, Billy Roche, chapter 6, in Tumbling Down, Dublin: Wolfhound Press, published 1994, pages 102–103:]
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People who are instinctive hunchers go through some such process at every decision-making point of their lives. It is likely that children often make decisions and discern truths by hunching. [2010, Max Gunther, The Luck Factor:]