Library / English Dictionary

POUNCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of pouncing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("pounce" is a kind of...):

bounce; bound; leap; leaping; saltation; spring (a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards)

Derivation:

pounce (move down on as if in an attack)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move down on as if in an attack

Example:

The teacher swooped down upon the new students

Synonyms:

pounce; swoop

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "pounce" is one way to...):

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pounce"):

stoop (descend swiftly, as if on prey)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

pounce (the act of pouncing)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The bird made a startled rise, but he struck it with his paw, and smashed it down to earth, then pounced upon it, and caught it in his teeth as it scuttled across the snow trying to rise in the air again.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The idea of those Devonshire girls, among the dry law-stationers and the attorneys' offices; and of the tea and toast, and children's songs, in that grim atmosphere of pounce and parchment, red-tape, dusty wafers, ink-jars, brief and draft paper, law reports, writs, declarations, and bills of costs; seemed almost as pleasantly fanciful as if I had dreamed that the Sultan's famous family had been admitted on the roll of attorneys, and had brought the talking bird, the singing tree, and the golden water into Gray's Inn Hall.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

White Fang walked stiff-legged up the steps and across the porch, with tail rigidly erect, keeping his eyes on Dick to guard against a flank attack, and at the same time prepared for whatever fierce manifestation of the unknown that might pounce out upon him from the interior of the house.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The last time I was in the Commons, a civil able-bodied person in a white apron pounced out upon me from a doorway, and whispering the word Marriage-licence in my ear, was with great difficulty prevented from taking me up in his arms and lifting me into a proctor's.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Ham Peggotty, who went to the national school, and was a very dragon at his catechism, and who may therefore be regarded as a credible witness, reported next day, that happening to peep in at the parlour-door an hour after this, he was instantly descried by Miss Betsey, then walking to and fro in a state of agitation, and pounced upon before he could make his escape.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But my aunt, suddenly descrying among them the young malefactor who was the donkey's guardian, and who was one of the most inveterate offenders against her, though hardly in his teens, rushed out to the scene of action, pounced upon him, captured him, dragged him, with his jacket over his head, and his heels grinding the ground, into the garden, and, calling upon Janet to fetch the constables and justices, that he might be taken, tried, and executed on the spot, held him at bay there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)