prance

prance

English

Statue of a prancing horse,
La Clayette (Saône-et-Loire), France

Etymology

From Middle English prancen, prauncen (“to prance”, literally “to show off”), variant of Middle English pranken (“to prank”), thus probably from the same ultimate root as prank. Cognate with Bavarian prangezen, prangssen (“to put on airs”), Alemannic German pranzen (“to strut”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹæn(t)s/
• Rhymes: -æns

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹɑːn(t)s/
• Rhymes: -ɑːns

Verb

prance (third-person singular simple present prances, present participle prancing, simple past and past participle pranced)

1. (of a horse) To spring forward on the hind legs.
2. (colloquial, figuratively) To strut about in a showy manner.

   John's daughter was prancing about the sitting room, practising for her school dance.

Derived terms

• prancesome
• prancy

Translations

of a horse

Bulgarian: изправям се на задни крака (izpravjam se na zadni kraka) Catalan: alzinar (ca), encabritar (ca) Danish: stejle Dutch: steigeren (nl) Esperanto: pranci French: se cabrer (fr) Occitan: se cabrar, se quilhar Portuguese: empinar (pt) Russian: встава́ть на, дыбы́ impf (vstavátʹ na, dybý), станови́ться на дыбы́ impf (stanovítʹsja na dybý), встать на дыбы́ pf (vstatʹ na dybý) Spanish: encabritarse (es) Turkish: şahlanmak (tr), şaha kalkmak (tr)

to strut

Bulgarian: ходя важно (hodja važno) Catalan: presumir (ca) Danish: spankulere Dutch: paraderen (nl) French: parader (fr) Maori: pīkarikari Norwegian: sprade Occitan: se palaissar, se pavonar, s'espompir Portuguese: pavonear-se Russian: ва́жничать (ru) impf (vážničatʹ), гарцева́ть (ru) impf (garcevátʹ) (on a horse) Turkish: kasılmak (tr)

Noun

prance (plural prances)

1. A prancing movement.
   • 1915, D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow:

     There seemed a little prance of triumph in his movement,

Anagrams

• parcen