POUNCE

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 221 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: POL-PRE

POUNCE . (t) To drop upon and seize: properly said of a bird of

prey

PREY (0. Fr. preie, mod. proie, Lat. praeda, booty, from prae and the root hed—seen in prehendere, prendere, to grasp)

seizing its victim in its claws. The substantive " pounce," from which the verb is formed, was the technical name in falconry for the claws on the three front toes of a hawk's claws, and so The Book of St Albans (1486) " Fryst the grete Clees behynde . . . ye shall

call

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

hom talons. . . . The Clees within the fote ye shall

call

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

of right her Pownces." (2) To decorate metal by driving or punching a

design

DESIGN (Fr. desiin, drawing; Lat. designare, to mark out)

into it from the under or back

part

PART

of the surface; also to decorate cloth or other fabrics by punching or " pinking " holes, scalloping the edges, &c. Both these words seem to be variants of " punch " (q.v.), which comes ultimately from the Latin pungere, punctum, to prick, pierce. From them must be distinguished (3) " pounce, " a preparation of powdered cuttle-fish or sandarach, the resin of the sandarach-tree, formerly used for drying ink on the roughened surface of vellum, parchment or

paper

PAPER
PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

where an erasure had been made; later, the word was also given to the black sand used generally as a dusting-powder for drying ink before the invention of blotting-

paper

PAPER
PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

. The " pounce-box " or " pouncet-box " was a

familiar

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

object on all writing-tables till that time. A similar box with pierced lid for holding perfumes or aromatic vinegar also bore the name. This word is formed from the Lat. pumex,

pumice

PUMICE (Lat. purnex, spumex, spuma, froth)

-stone, which was employed for securing a smooth surface on vellum, parchment, &c. The

term

TERM

" pounce " is also applied to a finely powdered gum of the juniper or to pipe-clay darkened with charcoal used in transferring designs to fabrics,

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

-surfaces, &c., through holes pricked in the

original

ORIGINAL

drawing.

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