amorce

Noun

amorce (plural amorces)

1. A hint about the future; an instance of foreshadowing.
   • The anti-Americanism — or anti-Carterism, because Schmidt is basically pro-American — was in a way worrying, although if the dollar crisis is such an amorce for economic and monetary union, I am prepared, up to a point, to go along with it.1989, Roy Jenkins, European Diary: 1977-1981, page 225
   • The word mourning is such an amorce, which prefigures the novel's denouement and also suggests that Jean's rejection of their daughter is tantamount to "killing" her.1994, Irène Assiba d' Almeida, Francophone African Women Writers, →ISBN, page 103
2. A percussion cap or detonator.
   • In March Messrs. Philip Morris & Co., Ltd., imported without a licence a consignment of 500 imitation cigarette cases, each containing a roll of amorces arranged in such a manner that an amorce was fired each time the case was opened, and the goods were placed under dentention by the Customs.1912, Great Britain Home Office, Explosives Act, 1875, page 12
   • Cyrus Harding would certainly have been able to fabricate an amorce. In default of fulminate, he could easily obtain a substance similar to gun-cotton, since he had azotic acid at his disposal.1918, Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island