Meanings
paunce1
plural paunces · alternative pauncer · alternative pauncher
- historicalA piece of armour which covers the abdomen or lower body.
The chest of armour, explicitly stated to have belonged to Oldcastle, contained a pair of 'close bristeplattes', a steel 'paunce', chain mail and another breastplate 'cum lez wyngges', all of which had been confiscated by Sir Thomas ...
2013, Gwilym Dodd, Henry V: New Interpretations, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, →ISBN, page 121
paunce2
plural paunces
- obsoleteObsolete form of pansy.
She secretly would search each daintie lim, / And throw into the well sweet Rosmaryes, / And fragrant violets, and Paunces trim […]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Origin
paunce · noun
- Middle Frenchpans
- Old Frenchpance
- Middle Englishpaunce
- Englishpaunce
From Middle English paunce, from Old French pance, Middle French pans. Doublet of paunch.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
paunce. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paunce
“paunce.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paunce. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “paunce,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paunce.
Source: paunce on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.