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, practicing for her school dance.

   • 2025 September 15, David A. Goodman, “The Trouble with Truffles” (18:04 from the start), in Futurama‎^[1], season 10, episode 9, spoken by Jambone (Maria Bamford):

     “So, so beautiful. I'm gonna do one last roly-poly before we go. [snorting, squealing] At least I had one moment of joy in a life of drudgery. Where will the truffle hunt take us next?” “Nowhere. You're free, Jambone. I'm releasing you from nose jail.” “Really? I can stay here in this paradise and prance and frolic?” “Just stick to frolicking.” “[emotional] Thank you, Mr. Bender. You're the kindest person I've ever met.” “Really? [crying] That's horrible.”

Derived terms

• pranceful
• prancer
• prancesome
• prancy

Translations

of a horse

• Arabic: اِسْتَنَاصَ (istanāṣa), نَاصَ (nāṣa)
• Bulgarian: изправям се на задни крака (izpravjam se na zadni kraka)
• Catalan: alzinar (ca), encabritar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騰躍 / 腾跃 (zh)

• Danish: stejle
• Dutch: steigeren (nl)
• Esperanto: pranci
• French: se cabrer (fr)
• Italian: impennare (it), fare un'impennata
• 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), escarcear (es)
• Turkish: şahlanmak (tr), şaha kalkmak (tr)
• Welsh: prancio (cy)

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)
• Spanish: pavonearse (es), alardear (es)
• 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