frounce

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
15
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/fɹaʊns/

Definition of frounce

5 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A canker in the mouth of a hawk.
    “The hawke had no lyst To come to his fyst; She loked as she had the frounce; […]”
    “I say that the eyass should have her meat unwashed, until she becomes a brancher—’twere the ready way to give her the frounce, to wash her meat sooner, and so knows every one who knows a gled from a falcon.”
See all 5 definitions

noun

  1. A canker in the mouth of a hawk.
    “The hawke had no lyst To come to his fyst; She loked as she had the frounce; […]”
    “I say that the eyass should have her meat unwashed, until she becomes a brancher—’twere the ready way to give her the frounce, to wash her meat sooner, and so knows every one who knows a gled from a falcon.”
  2. A plait or curl.

verb

  1. (ambitransitive, rare)To curl.
    “Beard untrimmed by barber's shears, Hair all frouncing 'bout his ears,”
    “As though to give him a warlike note, his clothes were thrown on in a slovenly way, and his moustache frounced out so shock and bristling that it seemed from each hair-end a crackling oath must start with every word he said.”
    “Under the day-long beating of the sun their brow is frounced out, […]”
    “The unruly, shoulder-length hair of the redeemed made a strong contrast to the well-tended coiffures of fashionable men, who "frounced their hair with curling irons" and wore long "love locks" tied with ribbons or silk favors.”
    “My hairdresser stopped coming. Fortunately, my friend Seton had always enjoyed frouncing my hair, and she readily took up the responsibility, fixing my hair in a different style every day.”
  2. (rare)To crease, wrinkle, to frown.
    “He frounced his brow, and from his scornful eye Shot wrath indignant, and disdain and pride,”
    “Mury, however, frounced her brows, and made Sir Tyke Winchap's niece a profound courtesy behind her back.”
    “"But they know who you are?" I asked, and frounced my brow in skeptical doubt.”
  3. To gather into or adorn with plaits, as a dress.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English frouncen, from Old French froncir "to wrinkle, frown", from Frankish *hrunkiju (“a wrinkle”), from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō (“fold, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Akin to Old High German runza "fold, wrinkle, crease" (German Runzel "wrinkle"), Middle Dutch ronse "frown", Old Norse hrukka "wrinkle, crease" (Icelandic hrukka "wrinkle, crease, ruck"). More at ruck₂.

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