frounce

== English == === 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. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /fɹaʊns/ Rhymes: -aʊns === Noun === frounce (plural frounces) A canker in the mouth of a hawk. A plait or curl. ==== Translations ==== === Verb === frounce (third-person singular simple present frounces, present participle frouncing, simple past and past participle frounced) (rare, ambitransitive) To curl. 1879, Harmon Seeley Babcock, "The Peanut Man", in Trifles, Providence Press Company (1879), page 43: Beard untrimmed by barber's shears, Hair all frouncing 'bout his ears, (rare) To crease, wrinkle, to frown. 1871, George Mac-Henry, Time and Eternity: A Poem, A L Bancroft and Company (1871), page 42: He frounced his brow, and from his scornful eye Shot wrath indignant, and disdain and pride, 2000, Patrick Madden, "Down on Batlle's Farm", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 33, Number 2, Summer 2000, page 160: "But they know who you are?" I asked, and frounced my brow in skeptical doubt. To gather into or adorn with plaits, as a dress. ==== Translations ==== === Anagrams === unforce == Middle English == === Alternative forms === ffrownce, fronce, frownce === Etymology === Borrowed from Middle French fronce, from Old French fronce. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈfruːns(ə)/ === Noun === frounce (plural frounces) A wrinkle, fold, or pleat (in fabric, hair, or porcelain). A disease involving mouth sores in birds of prey. (figuratively) A grimace; a scornful look. ==== Derived terms ==== frounceles ==== Related terms ==== frouncen ==== Descendants ==== English: frounce === References === “frǒunce, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. “frǒunce, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.