pounce
/paʊns/
pounce noun: 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.
Noun (1)
pounce (usually uncountable, plural pounces)
- 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.
- At the Thorn, or at a meagre kitchen table, or even on the carpenter’s workbench, he spreads open the portfolio, lights a candle stub, slices a fresh quill, and arranges pounce pot and ink well.2021, A. K. Blakemore, The Manningtree Witches, Granta Books, page 120
- Charcoal dust, or some other coloured powder for making patterns through perforated designs, used by embroiderers, lacemakers, etc.
Verb (1)
pounce (third-person singular simple present pounces, present participle pouncing, simple past and past participle pounced)
- To sprinkle or rub with pounce powder.
- to pounce paper, or a pattern
Noun (2)
pounce (plural pounces)
- A sudden leaping attack.
- Again the cat jolted the bed with a pounce.1999, Niki Anderson, Inspurrrational Stories for Cat Lovers
- The claw or talon of a bird of prey.
- March 22 1775, Edmund Burke, speech in the House of Commons on conciliation with America
You have , indeed , winged ministers of vengeance, who carry your bolts in their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea - And from her griping pounce the greedy prey doth quarry1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- March 22 1775, Edmund Burke, speech in the House of Commons on conciliation with America
- A punch or stamp.
- a pounce to print money with1602, John Withals, A Dictionarie in English and Latine for Children
- Cloth worked in eyelet holes.
- one spendeth his patrimony upon pounces and cuts1571, John Jewel et al., “An Homily Against excess of apparel”, in The Second Tome of Homilees […]
- Synonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).
- Synonyms:
- bump
Verb (2)
pounce (third-person singular simple present pounces, present participle pouncing, simple past and past participle pounced)
- To leap into the air intending to seize someone or something.
- The kitten pounced at the ball I threw to it.
- She pounced on the young man, because she loved him and wanted him for herself.
- To attack suddenly by leaping.
- I was awakened from a dead sleep by my child pouncing on top of me from out of nowhere.
- The only thing you can do with virgins like that is pounce!1972, Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, spoken by Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli)
- To eagerly seize an opportunity.
- I pounced on the chance to get promoted.
- While he was out of town on vacation, I pounced, leaking the photos.
- To strike or seize with the talons; to pierce, as with the talons.
- Stooped from his highest pitch to pounce a wren.1782, William Cowper, Table Talk
- Now pounce him lightly, / And as he roars and rages, let's go deeper.1621, John Fletcher, The Pilgrim (play)
- To stamp holes in; to perforate.
pounce meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
pounce in Tamil
- சீறிப்பாய், திடீரென குதித்துத் தாக்குதல்
pounce in Bengali
- pounce
- কিল kil
pounce in Malayalam
- spring, jump on, leap
- ചാടിവീഴുക, പെട്ടെന്നു മേൽപതിക്കുക, പുറത്തു ചാടിവീഴുക, കുതിച്ചുചാടിവീഴുക, എടുത്തുചാടുക, കുതിച്ചുപൊന്തുക
- leap, spring, jump
- മേൽചാടിവീഴൽ, പെട്ടെന്നു മേൽപതിക്കൽ, മുന്നോട്ടു പായൽ, കുതിച്ചുചാട്ടം, കുതിച്ചുകയറ്റം, തള്ളിക്കയറ്റം
pounce in Kannada
- ಎರಗು, ಮೇಲೆಬೀಳು, ಏಕಾಏಕಿ ಎರಗು, ಥಟ್ಟನೆ ಮೇಲೆಬೀಳು, ದಾಳಿ ಇಡು, ಥಟ್ಟನೆ ಎರಗಿ ಹಿಡಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳು
More languagesFewer languages
- pounce in Tagalog
- sagpangin
- pounce in Persian
- بل گرفتن bol gereftan
- pounce in Thai
- ตะปบ
Examples of pounce in a sentence
- Beyoncé’s fans, known as the BeyHive, pounced on Hardwick for the incident known as “Kissgate.”
- Pictures of celebrities and others captured in awkward freeze-framed expressions got the Ermahgerd treatment too—practicing memesmiths pouncing.
- Angus carefully laid his baseball bat to one side, waiting for the right moment to pounce, then—Flumpf!
Synonyms of pounce
Forms of pounce
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pounces |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pounces |
| present participle | pouncing |
| past participle | pounced |
| past | pounced |
Origin of pounce
From French ponce, from Latin pūmex. Doublet of pumice.
From Middle English pounce, probably akin to punch. Possibly from Old French ponchonner (compare French poinçonner).
Words formed from pounce
Phrases with pounce
Words that rhyme with pounce
2 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about pounce
- What does pounce mean?
- Pounce means 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.
- What is pounce in Tamil?
- Pounce in Tamil is சீறிப்பாய், திடீரென குதித்துத் தாக்குதல். See Pounce meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is pounce?
- Pounce can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce pounce?
- Pounce is pronounced /paʊns/.
- What is the plural of pounce?
- The plural of pounce is pounces.
Words near pounce in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pounce (page history and authors); pounce (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); কিল (Bengali) (page history and authors); pounce (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); pounce (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pounce.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pounce.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pounce. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.