| 释义 |
▪ I. prance, n.|prɑːns, -æ-|
[f. prance v.]
a. The act of prancing; a prancing movement or walk.
1751Johnson Rambler No. 182 ⁋11 A lady..whom by the jolting prance of her gait,..he guessed to have lately buried some prosperous citizen. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 307 Ethelberta..swept along the pavement and down the street in a turbulent prance. 1898F. P. Dunne Mr. Dooley in Peace & War 184 He has th' gait proper f'r half-past six o'clock th' avenin' befure pay-day. But 'tis not th' prance iv an American citizen makin' a gloryous spectacle iv himsilf. 1904J. G. Lorimer Selfmade Merch. Lett. to Son 243 I'm..as full of prance as a spotted circus horse.
†b. A trip, a jaunt. Obs. nonce-use.
1803Dibdin Nongtongpaw i. xi, John Bull for pastime took a prance, Some time ago, to peep at France.
Hence prancy a., resembling or suggestive of a prance.
1961New Statesman 26 May 828/3 The ‘Bohemian Jive’, a prancy affair, is now an essential part of the repertoire, whether you wear points or sandals. 1963New Yorker 22 June 4 The trumpeting band of Emil Coleman and the prancy one of Mark Monte.
▪ II. prance, v.|prɑːns, -æ-|
Also 4–8 praunce, 5 prawnce, praunse, 5–9 pranse.
[Appears c 1375: origin obscure: see Note below.]
1. intr. Of a horse: ‘To spring and bound in high mettle’ (J.); to rise by springing from the hind legs, either spontaneously in gaiety, excitement, or impatience, or at the rider's will; to move by a succession of such springs. Rarely, and more vaguely, of other animals.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 221 Than þenketht he þough I praunce al by-forn First yn þe trays ful fat and newe shorn, Yet am I but an hors. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. iv. (1495) 752 A lombe..lad to pasture other to deth; he grutchyth not nor prauncyth not but is obedyent and meke. c1440Lydg. Hors, Shepe, & G. 344 The Goos may gagle, the hors may prike & praunce. c1450Holland Howlat 21 Hartes in heirdis..Pransand and prunȝeand, be pair and be pair. c1614Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 783 Whil Phoebus' steeds abowt the Poles do praunce. a1639Wotton Poems in Reliq. (1651) 532 Here's no fantastick Mask, nor dance, But of our Kids, that frisk and prance. 1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mrs. Thistlethwayte 1 Apr., I have a little white favourite [horse]..he prances under me with so much fire. 1870Bryant Iliad I. vi. 208 As when some courser..Prances o'er the plain in joy of heart.
b. trans. (with reference to sense 3 b).
1858Morris Eve of Crecy Poems 168 Look you, my horse is good to prance A right fair measure in this war-dance.
c. trans. To cause (a horse) to prance.
1530Palsgr. 664/1, I praunce an horse, I make hym fetche gamboldes and to flynge, je pourbondys. 1609in Hakluyt Voy. (1812) V. 509 He and those that went with him coursed their horses, pransing them to and fro. 1611Cotgr., Pourbondir..to manage, or praunce a horse; to make him leape, or bound. 1720Mrs. Manley Power of Love (1741) 119 He was provoked to see Briancon vault and praunce his Horse about the Field, as if he were certain of his Conquest. 1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. III. 209 The marquis of Hartley and lord Barton..pranced their nags, each with two grooms behind them, close-up to the landau.
2. intr. Of a person: To ride (or drive) with the horse prancing; ‘to ride gallantly and ostentatiously’ (J.); to ride gaily, proudly, or insolently. Also † to prance it (obs.).
1390Gower Conf. III. 41 Wherof this man was wonder glad, And goth to prike and prance aboute. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 33 b, Then vp pranced the Burgonyons and folowed the chace. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 259 The Gentry delight much in great horses, whereupon they praunce continually through the streetes. 1624Middleton Game at Chess iii. i. 351 So make him my white jennet when I prance it After the Black Knight's litter. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 367 Like Troops of Amazons, the Female Band Prance round their Cars. 1802Campbell Lochiel's Warning 7 Proud Cumberland prances, insulting the slain, And their hoof-beaten bosoms are trod to the plain. 1854Thackeray Rose & Ring xvii, His Majesty prancing in person at the head of them all.
3. intr. ‘To move in a warlike or showy manner’ (J.); to move or walk in a manner suggestive of a prancing horse, or (more generally) in an elated or arrogant manner; to swagger. Also fig.
c1400Beryn 3400 They stond in altircacioune & stryff in poynt to praunce To depart yeur goodis. 1513Douglas æneis v. v. 8 Ilk ane of thaim, furth pransand lyke a lard. 1570Levins Manip. 21/18 To praunce, exultare. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. i. 24 How well resembles it the prime of Youth, Trimm'd like a Yonker, prauncing to his Loue? c1641Downfall of Pretended Div. Authoritie of Hierarchy 11 How they pierck and pranse it, above all Nobilitie and Gentry. 1754Richardson Grandison (1810) V. x. 60 She bid the servant tell Lord G. that she desired his company. Lord G. was [= had] pranced out. a1784Johnson in Boswell Life (1816) II. 68 note, Sir, if a man has a mind to prance, he must study at Christ-Church and All-Souls. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xvi, Rawdon..pranced off to engage lodgings with all the impetuosity of love.
b. intr. To dance, gambol, caper. Now colloq.
c1450Mankind 91 in Macro Plays 4 Yf ȝe wyll, ser, my brother wyll make yow to prawnce. 1790D. Morison Poems 47 He tunes his win'some reed, The wee things loup and prance. 1817Lintoun Green ix. 93 Whilst they touzle, ramp, and prance, The carles took their gill. 1883Gilmour Mongols xxvi. 315 Two or more figures in uncouth masks..prance about in the circle to the sound of music.
4. trans. To drive or frighten by prancing.
1812L. Hunt in Examiner 4 May 281/1 Who thinks he has nothing to do but to put on a laced jacket and go prancing his enemies into a fit.
Hence ˈprancing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxii. (MS. Digby 230) lf. 106 b/1 Furious neiȝyng of many stede, Praunsynge of hors vp on ouþer side. 1552Huloet, Praunsynge horses, excussores equi. c1560Heart's-ease 40 in T. Rychardes Misogonus ii, Our minds to please and live at ease, And sometimes to use praunsinge. 1611Bible Judg. v. 22. ― Nahum iii. 2 The noise of a whip..and of the praunsing horses [1885 (R.V.) and pransing horses]. 1635Quarles Embl. iii. ii. 22 If the fool unstride His prauncing stallion, thou may'st up and ride. a1732Gay (J.), Now rule thy prancing steeds, lac'd charioteer. 1740C. Pitt æneid xii. 465 Shook by the prancings of the thund'ring horse. 1853Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. xxii. (1876) 278 The type of the reverse is the Dioscuri on prancing horses.
[Note. The phonology and spelling of praunse, pranse, praunce, prance, suggest French origin, but no corresponding or allied word is recorded in French. Danish dialects have prandse, pranse (N. Jutland), ‘to go in a stately, proud fashion’, with an adj. prans, pransk ‘spirited, proud, said of a horse’ (Fejlberg), whence a vb. pranske; other dialects have pronse, etc. in similar senses. These resemble the Eng. word; but their age and history are unknown. Less likely to be connected are Bavar. dial. prangezen, prangssen to make compliments, assume airs, prangss assumption of airs, affected behaviour, and Swiss dial. spranzen to strut. Cf. also the later prank v.3, the identity of sense of which is remarkable, since it is difficult to equate the forms: see the Note there.] |