Flounce | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Flounce, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. FLOUNCED (flounst); p. pr. & vb. n. FLOUNCING.] [O. Sw. flunsa, to immerge, Prov. Ger. fluntschen, O. D. plonsen, to sink in.] To throw the limbs and body one way and the other; to spring, turn, or twist with sudden effort or violence; to struggle, as a horse in mire; to flounder; to throw one's self with a jerk or spasm, often as in displeasure.

To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us. Barrow.

You neither fume, nor fret, nor flounce. Swift.

Flounce, v. t.

verbtransitive

[See FLOUNCE, n., 2.] To deck with a flounce or flounces; as, to flounce a petticoat or a frock.

Flounçe, n.

noun

n. 1. [See FLOUNCE, v. i.] The act of flouncing; a sudden, jerking motion of the body. 2. [Cf. Ger. flaus, flausch, flusch, flüsch, a tuft of wool or hair, M. H. Ger. vlûs.] An ornamental appendage to the skirt of a lady’s dress, consisting of a strip gathered and sewed on by its upper edge around the skirt, and left hanging and waving.