pounce
Use Pounce in a sentence
verb (used without object)
1.
to swoop down suddenly and grasp, as a bird does in seizing its prey.
2.
to spring, dash, or come suddenly: Unexpectedly she pounced on the right answer.
verb (used with object)
3.
to seize (prey) suddenly: The bird quickly pounced its prey.
Related forms
pounc·ing·ly, adverb
Synonyms
5. leap, lunge, spring.
5. leap, lunge, spring.
00:10
Pounce
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is absquatulate. Does it mean:
| to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly. |
| to flee; abscond: |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used with object), pounced, pounc·ing.
to emboss (metal) by hammering on an instrument applied on the reverse side.
noun
1.
a fine powder, as of cuttlebone, formerly used to prevent ink from spreading in writing, or to prepare parchment for writing.
2.
a fine powder, often of charcoal, used in transferring a design through a perforated pattern.
3.
Also called pounce bag, pounce box. a small bag filled with pounce and struck against a perforated design.
verb (used with object)
4.
to sprinkle, smooth, or prepare with pounce.
5.
to trace (a design) with pounce.
6.
to finish the surface of (hats) by rubbing with sandpaper or the like.
Related forms
pounc·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To pounce
Collins
World English Dictionary
pounce1 (paʊns) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | (intr; |
| —n | |
| 2. | the act of pouncing; a spring or swoop |
| 3. | the claw of a bird of prey |
| [C17: apparently from Middle English punson pointed tool; see | |
| 'pouncer1 | |
| —n | |
| pounce2 (paʊns) | |
| —vb | |
| (tr) to emboss (metal) by hammering from the reverse side | |
| [C15 pounsen, from Old French poinçonner to stamp; perhaps the same as | |
| pounce3 (paʊns) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a very fine resinous powder, esp of cuttlefish bone, formerly used to dry ink or sprinkled over parchment or unsized writing paper to stop the ink from running |
| 2. | a fine powder, esp of charcoal, that is tapped through perforations in paper corresponding to the main lines of a design in order to transfer the design to another surface |
| 3. | (as modifier): a pounce box |
| —vb | |
| 4. | to dust (paper) with pounce |
| 5. | to transfer (a design) by means of pounce |
| [C18: from Old French ponce, from Latin pūmex | |
| 'pouncer3 | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
pounce
1686, originally "to seize with the pounces," from pownse (n.) "hawk's claws" (1486), from O.Fr. poinçon (see punch (v.)), on the notion of the claws that punch holes in things. In falconry, the heel claw is a talon, and others are pounces.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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