Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the baiting of an animal; thus Smithfield hank, an ox ‘rendered furious by over-driving and barbarous treatment’ (Grose, 1785); hank, to bait; hanker, one who takes part in a baiting.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: A Smithfield hank; an ox, rendered furious by overdriving and barbarous treatment.
1795		Sporting Mag. Apr. VI 55/1: The gentlemen of the hank were very brilliant at their polite amusement of bull-baiting at Holloway.
1800		Sporting Mag. May XVI 80/1: The gentlemen of the hank [...] seem to consider themselves more at liberty than ever to continue with savage barbarity this inferior kind of sport.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 245: hank a bull-bait, or bullock-hunt.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1832		in Egan Bk of Sports 146: And always ready, prigs can tell, / To gig a Smithfield hank.