▪ I. trounce, v.1
(traʊns)
Also 6–7 trounse, 7 trownse, -ce.
[Of obscure origin; usually compared with OF. troncer, troncher, Cotgr. troncir, tronchir to cut, cut off a piece from, retrench, f. tronce, tronche stump or stock of wood (14th c. in Godef.): cf. tronc trunk, and tron{cced}on truncheon. But the OF. and Eng. vbs. do not agree in sense. See also Eng. Dial. Dict.]
† 1. a. trans. To trouble, afflict, distress; to discomfit, harass. Obs.
| 1551 Bible Judg. iv. 15 But the Lorde trounsed [1611 discomfited] Sisara and all his charettes, and all hys hoste with the edge of y⊇ swerde, before Barak. 1553 Respublica iii. iii. 652 Lorde Ihese Christe whan he was I-pounst & I-pilate, Was ner zo I-trounst as we [ignoram people] have been of yeares Late. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 408/2 If any do speake against them, he is miserablye tossed & trounsed for his labour. 1646 Trapp Comm. John ii. 16 The churchwarden of Ipswich was much trounced and troubled in the High-commission. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. 111 Joseph's mistresse first tries to draw him to gratifie her lust; that string breaking, she hath another to trounce him and charge him. |
b. intr. Obs. rare—1.
| 1589 Rare Triumphs Love & Fortune iv. (Roxb.) 119 Oh, terrible tormentes that trounce in my toe! |
2. To beat, thrash, belabour, cudgel; to beat by way of punishment, to flog.
| 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau ii. ii. C ij, There was neuer none trounced as I shal trounce that elf. 1621 Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. ii. iv. 85 He tug'd and trownst his aduersarie. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xxii. (1804) 149 Flattered with the hopes of seeing a bailiff trounced. 1820 Gentl. Mag. XC. i. 412 The common provincial phrase of ‘I'll trounce you’, meaning to beat or bruise with a stick or fists. 1887 Besant The World went, etc. xxi. 169 One after another, they were tied up..and soundly trounced. |
3. a. To inflict chastisement upon; to punish; also, to get the better of, defeat.
| 1657 Howell Londinop. 40 How Rich. the first trounced her for murthuring the Jews. a 1704 T. Brown Comm.-Place-Bk. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 136 The Gods Neptune and Apollo trounc'd Laomedon for cheating 'em of their Hire. 1833 Marryat P. Simple lxiv, We will set to and trounce that scoundrel of an uncle. 1859 J. R. Green Lett. i. (1901) 28 You honour a man..by condescending to an encounter, even though you trounce him. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic xlv, Who chides..the unchilded monarch shall be trounced For irreligion. |
b. To punish by legal action or process; to indict, to sue at law. Now dial.
| 1638 Ford Fancies iv. i, The court shall trounce thee. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. iii. 683, I would so trounce her, and her Purse, I'd make her kneel for better or worse. 1681 Dryden Spanish Fryar iv. i, I'll trounce you for offering to corrupt my Honesty. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Trounc'd... Cast in Law. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Trounce, to sue at law. 1755 Johnson, Trounce, to punish by an indictment or information. 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris vi. 206 Who shall describe..Thy candour, when it falls to thee To help in trouncing for a libel? 1830 De Quincey Bentley Wks. 1857 VII. 98 He ‘trounced’ Colbatch, who was sentenced to pay 3s. 6d., together with 2s. 6d. arrears, and {pstlg}20 costs. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Trounce, to summon before a magistrate; to sue at law. |
c. To defeat heavily at a sport. colloq.
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §649/5 Defeat decisively,..trample (on), trounce, walk on [etc.]. 1951 Sport 27 Jan.–2 Feb. 3/1 He was omitted from the side trounced 4–0 at Reading. 1972 J. Mosedale Football v. 64 Green Bay teams had trounced AFL entries the previous two years. |
4. To assail or attack with rebuke or abuse; to censure; to scold severely.
| 1607 R. C[arew] tr. Estienne's World of Wonders 2 These learned Latin authors haue been trounced by these dangerously conceited and proud presumptuous censurers. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. ii. Wks. 1776 II. 261 Had not Mr. Killigrew foreseen that they must..fall to dirt of themselves, he would ere this..have trounced the author. 1865 Star 6 Jan., He deals chiefly with the best-named folly and trounces it most severely. 1894 Besant Equal Woman 127 He very finely trounced the Public for daring to like these favourites. |
Hence trounced (traʊnst) ppl. a.
| 1898 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 469/1 The howling of trounced sailors. |
▪ II. trounce, v.2
a dialectal or quasi-dialectal variant of traunce, trance v.2; also trans. in causal sense. Hence ˈtrouncing ppl. a.
| 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. vi. D vj, In cytie, I must set vppon my golde bespangled mule, In deeper way, a trounsinge steede, whome vneth ought can rule. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xi, They behoved to trounce us away to be tried at Carlisle. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 166 The Prince of Darkness trounces through the world in the form of a black dog. 1887 Charity Organis. Rev. Nov. 416 The young woman refused to pay, and trounced off to a..hospital. |