frounce meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

frounce

noun

/fɹaʊns/

Etymology From Middle English frouncen, from Old French froncir "to wrinkle, frown", from Frankish *hrunkiju (“a wrinkle”), from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō (“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.

A canker in the mouth of a hawk.

The hawke had no lyst To come to his fyst; She loked as she had the frounce; […]c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 83–85:
I say that the eyass should have her meat unwashed, until she becomes a brancher—’twere the ready way to give her the frounce, to wash her meat sooner, and so knows every one who knows a gled from a falcon.1820, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 85:

A plait or curl.

frounce

verb

Ambitransitive, Rare To curl.

Beard untrimmed by barber's shears, Hair all frouncing 'bout his ears,1879, Harmon Seeley Babcock, "The Peanut Man", in Trifles, Providence Press Company (1879), page 43
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.1887, Julian Corbett, For God and Gold, Macmillan and Co, page 214:

3 more examples

Under the day-long beating of the sun their brow is frounced out, […]1888, Charles M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, volume 1, Cambridge, page 498:
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.1983, Carolly Erickson, The First Elizabeth, St. Martin's Griffin, published 1997, →ISBN, page 307:
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.2012, Carolyn Meyer, The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots, Harcourt, published 2012, →ISBN, page 107:

Rare To crease, wrinkle, to frown.

He frounced his brow, and from his scornful eye Shot wrath indignant, and disdain and pride,1871, George Mac-Henry, Time and Eternity: A Poem, A L Bancroft and Company (1871), page 42
Mury, however, frounced her brows, and made Sir Tyke Winchap's niece a profound courtesy behind her back.1885 December, “The Old Corner Shop: A Story of Very Poor Humanity”, in The Phrenological Magazine:

1 more example

"But they know who you are?" I asked, and frounced my brow in skeptical doubt.2000, Patrick Madden, "Down on Batlle's Farm", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 33, Number 2, Summer 2000, page 160

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