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”). Cognate with Bavarian prangezen, prangssen (“to put on airs”), Alemannic German pranzen (“to strut”). More at prank.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

Verb

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

Derived terms

• prancesome
• prancy

Translations

of a horse

• Danish: stejle
• Dutch: steigeren (nl)
• Esperanto: pranci
• French: se cabrer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)

to strut

• Danish: spankulere
• Dutch: paraderen (nl)
• French: parader (fr)
• Maori: pīkarikari
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: sprade
• Occitan: se palaissar, se pavonar, s'espompir
• Portuguese: pavonear-se
• Russian: ва́жничать (ru) impf (vážničatʹ), гарцева́ть (ru) impf (garcevátʹ) (on a horse)

Noun

prance (plural prances)

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

     There seemed a little prance of triumph in his movement,

Anagrams

• parcen