Note 20 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
Scotice, “on his hunkers.” The emphatic word used by the author in describing this particular mode of genuflexion, and which has no English synonyme into which it can be translated, is thus defined by Jamieson: “to sit with the hips hanging downwards, and the weight of the body depending on the knees.”—Scot. Dict. verb Hunkers.
“Wi’ ghastly e’e, poor Tweedle-dee, Upon his hunkers bended.”—Burns.