The leg or lower leg of a person or animal; can also mean to hit a golf ball poorly with the shank of a club.
From Old English 'sceanca,' meaning 'leg,' related to 'shin.' The word has meant the same thing for over a thousand years in English.
Sailors used to call their legs 'shanks' and when they walked on land, they'd be 'shaking a shank.' In golf, a 'shank' is a humiliating miss that happens when the ball hits the thin part of the club instead of the sweet spot.
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