pounce
A type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to…A type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on rough paper to smooth the writing surface.
Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
Meaning
7 senses(historical, uncountable, usually)A type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on rough paper to smooth the writing surface.
Löschsand, Schreibsand
(historical, uncountable, usually)Charcoal dust, or some other coloured powder for making patterns through perforated designs, used by embroiderers, lacemakers, etc.
A sudden leaping attack.
More meanings 4
A punch or stamp.
Cloth worked in eyelet holes.
Synonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).
(archaic)The claw or talon of a bird of prey.
- the act of pouncing
Origin
From French ponce, from Latin pūmex. Doublet of pumice. From Middle English pounce, probaFrom French ponce, from Latin pūmex. Doublet of pumice.
From Middle English pounce, probably akin to punch. Possibly from Old French ponchonner (compare French poinçonner).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.