huxen

English

Alternative forms

• huckson, huxon
• huckshin, hucksheen (influenced by shin)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English *hoxene, *huxene (only attested as hokschyne, with alteration after schyne), from Old English hōhsinu, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hasinu, from Proto-Germanic *hanhasinwō, from *hanhaz (“heel”) +‎ *senawō (“sinew”). Compare hough, hox, and sinew.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌksən/

Noun

huxen (plural huxens)

1. (West Country, obsolete) The hough; the back of the hip.
   • 1648, Robert Herrick, “[Amatory Odes.] The Beggar to Mab, the Fairy Queen.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume I, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, →OCLC, page 81:

     Or, sweet lady, reach to me, / The abdomen of a bee; / Commend a crickets-hip / Or his huckson, to my scrip.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1746 July, “An Exmoor Scolding”, in The Gentleman's Magazine‎^[1], volume XVI, number 9, page 354, column 1:

     Thy hozen muxy up zo vurs thy gammerels to tha very huckſheens o' tha, thy gore coat oll a girred, thy head clathing oll a fouſt […]

   • 1876, Oliver Madox-Brown, “The Dwale Bluth”, in William Rosetti, F. Hueffer, editors, The Dwale Bluth, Hebditch's Legacy, and Other Literary Remains‎^[2], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 68:

     "Ers stratted‡ ter th' huxens§! Eh! come an' lack vor yersel," she screamed in a voice made inarticulate by her shrill and immodest laughter, as the unfortunate man waded at last out of the black water, and stood gazing dolefully at his dirty stockings and shoes.