trounce

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To beat severely

   To beat severely; to thrash.

   • I tell you, I meane to trounce him after twenty in the hundred, and have a bout with him with two ſtaves and a pike for this geare.
   • O yez; take notice! that the first bad boy I find killing an innocent bird, or trouncing a poor frog, I will have no mercy on him.
2. 2

   To beat or overcome thoroughly, to defeat heavily

   To beat or overcome thoroughly, to defeat heavily; especially (games, sports) to win against (someone) by a wide margin.

   • The Mexican team trounced the Americans by 10 goals to 1.
   • What skill and dexterity soldiers, who are called together only once a week, may possess, in trouncing an enemy, which has already trounced half Europe, I will not pretend to determine; [...]
3. 3

   To chastise or punish physically or verbally

   To chastise or punish physically or verbally; to scold with abusive language.

   • Say I, write I, or dooe I, what I can, he will haunt and trounce me perpetually, with ſpiritiſh workes of ſupererogation, inceſſant tormentours of the civilian and devine.
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   1. 4

      To punish by bringing a lawsuit against

      To punish by bringing a lawsuit against; to sue.

      • Slept hard till 8 o'clock, then waked by Mr. Clerke's being come to consult me about Field's business, which we did by calling him up to my bedside, and he says we shall trounce him.
      • Whereupon Mr. Weaver did threaten them, and (to uſe his own Expreſſion) would cauſe them to be trounced, taking down their Names. And the Grand Jury broke up without acting.
   2. 5

      An act of trouncing

      An act of trouncing: a severe beating, a thrashing; a thorough defeat.

      • He sprang on his prey with a pounce, / And he gave it a jerk and a trounce; / Then crunched up its bones / On the grass or the stones, / This carnivoristicous Ounce, / 'Ticous Ounce! / This carnivoristicous Ounce!
      • She could hear the maid beating the pillows—a trounce for each—and tossing them into a pile where they fell with a plump.
      • In the nick of time he lassoed with a trounce / the low-down villains who had stubbed our toes.
   3. 6

      To walk heavily or with some difficulty

      To walk heavily or with some difficulty; to tramp, to trudge.

      • There were no railways then—well, not in Hazelworth, at any rate—and as coach-fares would have absorbed most of our stock of "Sunday pennies," we had to "trounce" every inch of our way to Manchester.
      • I am what a Yorkshireman would call a 'Lanky,' and perhaps as poor a specimen of the cotton county's human produce as ever trounced barefoot through its lanes, or shuddered at the sound of its factory bells.
   4. 7

      To pass across or over

      To pass across or over; to traverse.

   5. 8

      To travel quickly over a long distance.

      • Lyra trounces into the kitchen, a smile on her face. "Good morning, everyone! Morning, Grandpa. Morning, Gramps."
      • Don't thank us, then, she snaps, and trounces off down the road.
   6. 9

      A walk involving some difficulty or effort

      A walk involving some difficulty or effort; a trek, a tramp, a trudge.

      • An' what a trounce it's bin! I declare to goodness I'm as out o' wynt as an owd pair o' ballis, wi' walkin so far.
   7. 10

      A journey involving quick travel

      A journey involving quick travel; also, one that is dangerous or laborious.

      • Sec a trounce we've hed ower t' fells!

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