flounce
1 /flaʊns/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [flouns] Show IPA verb, flounced, flounc⋅ing, noun
-verb (used without object)
1. to go with impatient or impetuous, exaggerated movements: The star flounced out of the studio in a rage.
2. to throw the body about spasmodically; flounder.
-noun
3. an act or instance of flouncing; a flouncing movement.
Origin:
1535-45; of obscure orig.; perh. akin to Norw flunsa to hurry
Synonyms:
1. storm, bound, prance, bounce.
flounce
2 /flaʊns/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [flouns] Show IPA noun, verb, flounced, flounc⋅ing.
-noun
1. a strip of material gathered or pleated and attached at one edge, with the other edge left loose or hanging: used for trimming, as on the edge of a skirt or sleeve or on a curtain, slipcover, etc.
-verb (used with object)
2. to trim with flounces.
Origin:
1665-75; alter. of frounce
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To flounce
Explore the Visual Thesaurus
Related Words for : flounce
frill, furbelow, ruffle
View more related words
flounce 1 (flouns)
n. A strip of decorative, usually gathered or pleated material attached by one edge, as on a garment or curtain.
tr.v. flounced, flouncing, flounces
To trim with a strip or strips of gathered or pleated material.
[Alteration of frounce, from Middle English, pleat, from Old French fronce, of Germanic origin; see sker-2 in Indo-European roots.]
flounce 2 (flouns)
intr.v. flounced, flouncing, flounces
1.
1. To move in a lively or bouncy manner: The children flounced around the room in their costumes.
2. To move with exaggerated or affected motions: flounced petulantly out of the house.
2. To move clumsily; flounder.
n. The act or motion of flouncing.
[Possibly of Scandinavian origin.]
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Flounce
Flounce\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flounced (flounst); p. pr. & vb. n. Flouncing.] [Cf. OSw. flunsa to immerge.] To throw the limbs and body one way and the other; to spring, turn, or twist with sudden effort or violence; to struggle, as a horse in mire; to flounder; to throw one's self with a jerk or spasm, often as in displeasure.
To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us. --Barrow.
With his broad fins and forky tail he laves The rising sirge, and flounces in the waves. --Addison.
Flounce
Flounce\, n. The act of floucing; a sudden, jerking motion of the body.
Flounce
Flounce\, n. [Cf. G. flaus, flausch, a tuft of wool or hair; akin to vliess, E. fleece; or perh. corrupted fr. rounce.] An ornamental appendage to the skirt of a woman's dress, consisting of a strip gathered and sewed on by its upper edge around the skirt, and left hanging.
Flounce
Flounce\, v. t. To deck with a flounce or flounces; as, to flounce a petticoat or a frock.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : flounce
Spanish: salir, *entrar airadamente,
German: erregt stmen,
Japanese: ぷいと飛び出す
More Translations
flounce (v.)
1542, "to dash, plunge, flop," perhaps from Scand. (cf. dial. Sw. flunsa "to plunge," Norw. flunsa "to hurry," but first record of these is 200 years later than the Eng. word), said to be of imitative origin. Spelling likely influenced by bounce. Sense of "anger, impatience" began to adhere to the word 18c.
flounce (n.)
"wide ruffle," 1713, from M.E. frounce "pleat, wrinkle, fold" (1378), from O.Fr. fronce "fold, gather, wrinkle," from Frank. *hrunkja "wrinkle," of unknown origin. Influenced in form by flounce (v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001 Douglas Harper