different between flounce vs frounce

English

Etymology

Probably of North Germanic origin, from Norwegian flunsa (“hurry”), perhaps ultimately imitative. Or, perhaps formed on the pattern of pounce, bounce.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fla?ns/
• Rhymes: -a?ns

Verb

flounce (third-person singular simple present flounces, present participle flouncing, simple past and past participle flounced)

1. To move in an exaggerated, bouncy manner.
2. (archaic) To flounder; to make spastic motions.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of Contentment (sermon)

     To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us.

   • 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses

     With his broad fins and forky tail he laves / The rising surge, and flounces in the waves.

3. To decorate with a flounce.
4. To depart in a haughty, dramatic way that draws attention to oneself.

Translations

Noun

flounce (plural flounces)

1. (sewing) A strip of decorative material, usually pleated, attached along one edge; a ruffle.^W

   • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […]  Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

2. The act of flouncing.

Derived terms

• flouncy

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

English

Etymology

From Middle English frouncen, from Old French froncir "to wrinkle, frown", from Frankish *hrunkja (“a wrinkle”), from Proto-Germanic *hrunkij?, *hrunkit? (“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): /f?a?ns/

Noun

frounce (plural frounces)

1. A canker in the mouth of a hawk.
2. A plait or curl.

Translations

Verb

frounce (third-person singular simple present frounces, present participle frouncing, simple past and past participle frounced)

1. (rare, transitive, intransitive) 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,

   • 1887, Julian Corbett, For God and Gold, Macmillan and Co (1887), page 214:

     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.

   • 1888, Charles M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, Volume 1, Cambridge (1888), page 498:

     Under the day-long beating of the sun their brow is frounced out, […]

   • 1983, Carolly Erickson, The First Elizabeth, St. Martin's Griffin (1997), ?ISBN, page 307:

     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.

   • 2012, Carolyn Meyer, The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots, Harcourt (2012), ?ISBN, page 107:

     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.
   • 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,

   • 1885, "The Old Corner Shop: A Story of Very Poor Humanity", The Phrenological Magazine, December 1885:

     Mury, however, frounced her brows, and made Sir Tyke Winchap's niece a profound courtesy behind her back.

   • 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.

3. To gather into or adorn with plaits, as a dress.

Translations

Anagrams

• unforce