frounce


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frounce

(fraʊns)
n
a wrinkle or crease; a pleat; a frown
vb
to wrinkle or crease; to pleatto frown
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

frounce

- To wrinkle or fold.
See also related terms for wrinkle.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
O blissful lady, it was nedeful to 3ou to be so, for I holde of Goddis Sone pat if he hadde founde in 3ou as myche in vayn as [thorn]e mountaunce of a frounce of a kerchef but of necessite he hadde neuer made of 3ou his modir.
N.'s line "as myche in vayn as [thorn]e mountaunce of a frounce of a kerchef" differs from the Middle French "autant de viude com[m]e estre en vain le ploy d[']un petit meulequin" is that the English has no direct counterpart to the French word viude or Latin vacuum, "lack, shortcoming." Clare Kirchberger transposed this line from Middle English to modern in 1927, "if he [Christ] had found in you as much vanity as the quantity of a wrinkle in a kerchief, of necessity he had never made of you his mother." (39) Yet M.
The noun frounce, in two English copies, is a good equivalent for "ploy" in the sense of "tuck, crease, pleat, fold, flounce, frill." Possibly for M.
A further variant in one Middle English Mirror-copy, the "Amherst" manuscript, London, British Library Additional 37790, replaces "a frounce" with "the leste spotte," when illustrating a miniscule imperfection that Mary did not have: "3if he had founde in 3ou as mykel in vayne as the mountaunce of the leste spotte of a kerchefe but of necessite, he had never made of 3ou his modere." (44) This "spotte" could mean a stain, blemish, or defect, or "a small piece of cloth." (45) The subject of folding or wrinkling has vanished, but the concept of smallness and excess remains.
The disease occurs in numerous types of birds, including pigeons, where it is called canker and birds of prey, where it is known as frounce. Budgies are also commonly infected.
Frounce and frill reached a peak in the 80s with many brides copying the meringuelike voluptuousness characterised by Princess Diana's wedding frock (left).
For example, in Book 7, Genius explains that one may find in Tullius [ie Cicero] "in what wise he schal pronounce / His tale plein withoute frounce [ambiguity]" (7.
1594 it was a style "plein withoute frounce" which Cicero was said to have advocated, and surely Gower's representation of his plain style, not as virile and the very opposite of effeminate, but as "impotent" and unmanly, should be read ironically rather than taken at face value.
(29) Compare the depiction of Malebouch, who is unable to pronounce "A plein Food word withoute frounce [sneer]" (2.