pounce 
used to prevent blotting in rewriting over era- 
sures, and in medicine as an antacid; also, a 
similar powder used in the preparation of 
parchment or writing-paper. 
It [sandarach] la used as a varnish, dissolved in spirit* 
of wine, and the powder is used, under the name of pounce, 
to give writing-paper a surface after erasure. 
McCuUoch, Diet. Commerce, p. 1210. 
2. A powder (especially, the gum of the juni- 
per-tree reduced to a finely pulverized state, or 
finely powdered pipe-clay darkened by char- 
coal) inclosed in a bag of some open stuff, and 
passed over holes pricked in a design to trans- 
fer the lines to a paper underneath. This kind 
of pounce is used by embroiderers to transfer their pat- 
terns to (heir stuffs ; also by fresco-painters, and some- 
times by engravers. 
3f. A powder used as a medicine or cosmetic. 
Of the flesh thereof is made pounces for sicke men, to 
refresh and restore them. 
Benoenuto, Passengers' Dialogues. (Xares.) 
pounce 2 (pouns), r. t. ; pret. and pp. pounced, 
ppr. pouncing. [< pawnee 2 , .] 1. To sprinkle 
or rub with pounce ; powder. 2. To trace by 
rubbing pounce through holes pricked in the 
outline of a pattern: as, to pounce a design. 
See pouncing*. 3. To imprint or copy a de- 
sign upon by means of pounce. See pouncing*. 
4. In hat-making, to grind or finish (felt hats) 
by dressing them with sandpaper. 
Pouncing is a term for rubbing down the outside of a 
hat with a piece of pumice stone, sand paper, or emery 
paper. ./. Thomson, Hat-making, p. 48. 
pounce-bag (pouns'bag), . A bag of unsized 
muslin filled with pulverized charcoal, black or 
red chalk, black-lead, or pounce of any other 
kind, used to transfer a design from one surface 
to another by dusting through holes pierced 
along the lines of the design to be reproduced. 
pounce-box (ppuns'boks), . A small box with 
a perforated lid, used for sprinkling pounce on 
paper, or for holding perfume for smelling. The 
term was retained in use for the powder-box used on the 
writing-table, whether holding pounce or black sand, un- 
til the general disappearance in England and America of 
the object itself when supplanted by blotting-paper, about 
the middle of the nineteenth century. Also pouncet-box. 
pounced 1 (pouust), . [< tfE.potmsed; pp. of 
pounce^, f.J 1. Ornamented with holes or in- 
dentations upon the surface, or with cut-work : 
perforated, 
Pounsed [var. pouiumned] and dagged clothyng. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
Gilt bowls pounced and pierced. lloliiwhtd. 
2. Powdered; mealy. 
Where rich carnations, pinks with purple eyes, . . . 
Tulips tall-stemm'd, and pounctd auriculas rise. 
Crabbt, Works, I. 41. 
Pounced work, ornament made by means of a small 
pointed puiu-h and a hammer. The punch wag some- 
times shaped at the end into a circle, triangle, or other 
form, which every blow marked upon the metal. This was 
a common style of decoration in the fourteenth century, 
sometimes alone, and sometimes used for the borders of 
enameled or embossed articles, as is seen in the sepulchral 
statues of Richard II. and his queen at Westminster. 
pounced 2 (pounst), a. [< pounce 1 , w.,3,+ -frf 2 .] 
Furnished with pounces or talons. 
Some haggard Hawk, who had her eyry nigh, 
Well pounc'd to fasten, and well wing'd to fly. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, ill. 1117. 
High from the summit of a craggy cliff 
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young 
Strong pounced. Thomson, Spring. 
pounce-paper (pouns'pa'per), w. A kind of 
tracing-paper used in pouncing. 
pouncer 1 (poun'ser), M. In the medieral church 
in England, a gold or silver thumb-stall placed 
upon the thumb of a bishop's right liana after 
it had been dipped in chrism or holy oil, used 
out of reverence for the hallowed oils and in 
order to avoid soiling his vestments until he 
had washed his hands. Also poncer, poiuter. 
ponsir, thumb-stall. 
pouncer' 2 t, Same as pounce 1 , 2. 
lluliiui, a kind of pmineer that gravers vse. Florio, 1611. 
pouncet-box (poun'set-boks), n. Same as 
pounce-box. 
He was perfumed like a milliner, 
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held 
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon 
He gave his nose. Shale., 1 Hen. IV., I. S. 88. 
pounce-tree (pouus'tre), M. The arar-treo, <'/il- 
litris MMM 
pouncing 1 (poun'sing),H. [Verbal n. of Bounce 1 , 
t'.] iTxhe act of punching holes in or per- 
forating anything for ornament : same as ;'- 
ing. 2. Any design or ornamental effect pro- 
duced by holes. 
pouncing 2 (poun'sing), H. [< ME. pituiixymj: 
verbal n. of pouiici'-. <\| 1. The operation of 
4657 
transferring the outline of a design from one 
surface to another, as from a cartoon to a wall 
or from a sheet of paper to a canvas or a piece 
of muslin, by perforating the surface on which 
the drawing has been made with small holes 
along the outlines, then laying it on the surface 
intended to receive the transfer and dusting 
over it with a pounce-bag, thus leaving a dotted 
repetition of the design. This may be fixed 
with a soft lead-pencil or a reed pen. 2. A 
pattern so produced. 3f. Same as Bounce 2 , 3. 
What can you do now, 
With all your paintings and your pouncing.*, lady? 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, II. 1. 
pouncing-machine (Doun'sing-ma-shen'), n. 
In hat-making, a machine for raising a nap upon 
felt hats by a grinding action. The hat-body Is ro- 
tated against a revolving cylinder of sandpaper, which 
shaves off loose fibers and gives the proper surface. 
pound 1 (pound), n. [< ME. pound, pownd, pund, 
< AS. pund, a pound (weight), a pound (money). 
a pint, = OS. punt = OFries. pund, pond = D. 
pond = tfUj.pun t = OHG. phun t, MHG. phun t, 
pfunt, G. pfund = Icel. Sw. D&n.pund = Goth. 
pund, a pound. < L. pondo, a pound, short for 
pondo libra, a pound by weight : libra, pound 
(see libra) ; pondo, by weight, heteroclitical abl. 
of pondus (ponder-), a weight, the weight of a 
pound, weight, heaviness, < pendere, weigh.^eii- 
dere, hang : see pendrn t. Cf . ponder, ponderous, 
etc. Pound, as used in comp. in designating 
the sizes of nails, has suffered alteration to 
penny: see penny.] 1. A fundamental unit of 
weight or mass. In the English system, both in the 
more antiquated form retained In the I'nited States and 
under the improvements established by the British gov- 
ernment, two pounds are used the pound avoirdupois (di- 
vided Into 16 ounces) for all ordinary commodities, and 
the troy pound (divided into 12 ounces) for bullion, and 
in the I 1 nlted States for a few other purposes. But, while 
troy ounces and their subdivisions are often used, the 
pound itself is hardly employed. In Great Britain and its 
colonies the legal original standard weight since 1856 has 
been the imperial pound avoirdupois, which is a cylindri- 
cal mass of platinum, having a groove round It near the 
top, and marked P. S. 1844 lib. The letters P. S. stand for 
"Parliamentary Standard." The so-called "commercial 
pound " Is only an Ideal brass pound to be weighed in air. 
The troy pound in Great Britain is defined as 5,760 grains 
of which the avoirdupois pound contains 7,000. From 
1824 to 1856 the only legal original standard weight in 
Great Britain was a troy pound constructed in 1758 and 
denominated the imperial standard troy pound ; and the 
avoirdupois pound was defined as 7,000 grains of which 
the troy pound contained 5,760. The present imperial 
pound avoirdupois probably does not differ by ,.{ grain 
from the previous avoirdupois pound. Before 1824 the 
legal standards had been certain weights, licith troy and 
avoirdupois constructed under Queen Elizabeth in 1588. 
These standards had not been very accurately constructed, 
and became worn by continual use; but it is probable 
that the avoirdupois pound had been equal to 7, 002 of our 
present grains, of which the troy pound may have con- 
tained 5,759. The two pounds were not supposed to be 
commensurable. The Elizabethan avoirdupois pound re- 
mains, In theory, the legal avoirdupois pound in the I'nit- 
ed States ; but of late years the practice has been to copy 
the British imperial pound avoirdupois. Congress has 
made a certain pound-weight kept in Philadelphia the 
troy pound of the Cnited States; but this is a hollow 
weight (and therefore of an inferior character, and such 
as no European nation would be content to take for a 
prototypeX and consequently its buoyancy is uncertain, 
and its mass cannot be ascertained with great accuracy. 
Practically, the British troy pound Is copied. The pound 
avoirdupois was made a standard by Edward III., accord- 
Ing to official evidence. From his 56-pound weight Eliza- 
beth's standards were copied, although standards had 
been made in 1497, direct copies from which still exist. 
The troy pound was the pound of the city of Troyes, where 
a great annual fair was held. In 1497 it was made the legal 
weight in England for gold and silver, and it was generally 
used for other costly things, such as silk. The old books 
say it was used for bread ; but Kelly, writing before the 
abolition of the assize of bread, says the pound used for 
that purpose was one of 7,600 grains, which he calls "the 
old commercial weight of England." The monetary pound 
which the troy pound displaced had been used from Saxon 
times. It was equal to 5,400 or 5,420 of our present grains, 
and was divided Into 12 ounces or 20 shillings. Contem- 
poraneously with It there existed a merchants' pound con- 
taining 15 of the same ounces, making 6,775 grains. The 
avoirdupois and troy pounds are respectively about 453.6 
and 373.26 grams. Other pounds have been in use in Eng- 
land. An act of 12 Charles II. legalizes the Venetian 
pound for weighing Venetian gold. This pound was a 
variation of the ancient Roman pound. The pound of 
Jersey and Guernsey was the French voids de marc. The 
Scottish Troyes or tron pound varied at different times, 
but latterly it was about 492 grams, being Identical with 
the Dutch pound. Local pounds of 17, 18, 21, 22, and 
24 ounces were in use until recently. Before the metric 
system, many hundreds of different pounds were in use In 
Europe, mostly divided into 16 ounces, but many int<> 12 
ounces. The principal types were as follows. (1) Polish 
pounds, of values clustering about 405 grams, contain- 
ing 16 ounces of about 26 grams each, from the old War- 
saw pound of 378.8 grams to the old Cracow pound of 
405.9 grams. The latest Polish pound was 405.504 grams. 
(2) The pounds of High Langnedoc and the "table-weight ' 
pounds of Provence, of values clustering about 410 grams. 
f n >m the pound of Salon of 376.6 to that of Embron of 435.0 
grams. Some of the table pounds, as that of Ain (438.3 
grams), were divided Into 14 ounces : so the chocolate 
pound 
pound of Vienna had 28 loth, weighing 490 grams. Also, 
certain silk-pounds were divided into 15 ounces ; but these 
were of greater weight. This was the case with the ordi- 
nary pound of Geneva of 458.9 grams, which was equal to 
the silk-pound of Lyons. The silk-puund of Patru In the 
Morca had also 15 ounces, but its value amounted to 480 
grams. The 15-ounce merchants' pound of England of 437 
grams had ounce* of the same value as the old 12 ounce 
moneyers' pound of the Saxons. (3) Baltic pounds, of val- 
ues clustering about 422 grams (making the ounce about 
2J Bams), from the Russian pound of 409.5174 grams to 
the Dantzic pound of 435.5 grams. The Swedish pound 
was 425.04 grams. (4) The Italian pounds, of values clus- 
tering about 320 grams (having 12 ounces of about 27 grams 
each), the great majority between 300 and 350 grams. The 
following are examples : 
Crams. 
Venice, light pound , . . . . 301.29 
Sicily 319.08 
Naples, silk-pound 380.70 
Mifan, light pound SW.02 
Rome 339. 16 
Tuscany 388.68 
Piedmont 888.88 
Ragusa, in Dalmatla 874.07 
Venice, heavy pound 477.12 
These pounds would seem to be mostly modifications of 
the ancient Roman pound, the value of which was, accord- 
ing to the extant standards, 325.8 grams, but according to 
the coins 327.4 grams. There were, however, anciently 
other widely different pounds in Italy, from which some 
of the modern Italian pounds may nave been derived. 
Many of the Italian cities had light and heavy pounds, the 
latter belonging to the class of pounds aliout 490 grams, 
or being still larger and containing more than 16 ounces. 
(5) Light-weight pounds, having ounces of about 29 
grams. These include Spanish and Portuguese pounds, 
mostly ranging from 458.5 to 460.6 grams, Netherlands 
pounds, ranging mostly from 463 to 470 grams, and Ger- 
man light-weight pounds, ranging mostly from 467 to 
468.5 grams. The Saxon moneyers' pound conies into this 
category, being 350 grams, or 467 grams for 16 ounces. The 
avoirdupois pound of 453.6 grams is either a very light 
Spanish pound or a very heavy Provencal pound. The 
German pounds are divided not into 16 ounces but into 
32 loth. Some of the Spanish pounds contain only 12 
ounces, the ounce retaining the same value. The follow- 
ing are examples : 
Grams. 
Portugal . . 459.00 
Spain 460.14 
Liege 467.09 
Antwerp 470.17 
Saxony 467.15 
Prussia 487.7110 
Wiirtemberg 467.75 
Frankfort... . . 4H7.88 
(II) The German 12-ounce medicinal pounds, of values 
clustering about 358 grams (the ounce alwut 30), and most- 
ITI lulls. I>IH lull) were it lew nuii-iini* j |iuuuua 
the heavy and the light, having minces of 29J grams. 
There were also a few extra-heavy, having minces tf 31^ 
grams. The following are German examples : 
('.rams. 
Nuremberg, goldsmiths' (half-heavy) 477.13s 
Hamburg... ..484.12 
Cassel 484.24 
Lubeck 484.72 
488.67 
492.16772 
498.50 
Hanover . . 
Dutch troy 
Bremen ro.uv 
Denmark 499.26 
Nuremberg, commer. (extra-heavy). .510.22 
But the most Important pound of this class was the French 
mark-weight pound, of 489.50585 grams. This unit was so 
called because it had double the mass of a certain nest of 
weights, called a mark, which had been preserved in the 
Paris mint with scrupulous care from time Immemorial. 
There is evidence that Charlemagne, under whom Western 
medieval coinage commenced, used a 12-ounce pound, the 
Kvre esterlin, whose ounces agreed with those of the Paris 
mark. It is said that ilaromi al Raschid sent a standard 
pound to Charlemagne, and It has commonly been inferred 
that the lirre esterlin was conformed to that, especially 
as Quelpo found an authentic rotl of the same weight. 
Rotls, however, are of almost all weights, and there Is no 
sufficient evidence of what one Haroun would have sent; 
Ixjsldes, the fact that he sent a weight to Charlemagne af- 
fords no reason for thinking that Charlemagne would 
adopt It. We know that Dagobert, 150 years before, had 
kept a standard of weight in his palace, and it Is quite 
likely that Charlemagne continued the use of that In- 
deed, he had neither motive nor power to change the 
customary weight, such changes being effected only by 
changes in the course of commerce or by the hands of 
strong governments. (8) The South German pounds, of 
values clustering about 50grams(making the ounce about 
36! grams), from that of Flume, In Croatia, of 558.7 to that 
of Minister of 676.4 grams. The Bavarian and Vienna com- 
mercial pounds were, by law, 560 grams. Besides the 
pounds above mentioned, there were some containing 
more than 16 ounces. The heavy pounds of Valencia (M4.4 
grams). Zurich (528.6), and Geneva (550.6) had 18 ounces. 
There is said to have been a heavy pound (575 grams) in 
the Swiss canton of SchafThausen, having 20 ounces. Tin- 
commercial pound of the Astnrias, equal to 090.1 grams, 
seems to have been divided into 24 ounces. The heavy 
pound of Milan of 763.13 grams had 28 ounces, that of 
Bergamo (815.2 grams) 30 ounces, and the nifat-pouml of 
Valencia (1089 grams) 36 ounces. See marfrs, min/il . roll. 
2. A money of account, consisting of 20 shil- 
lings, or 340 pence, originally equivalent to a 
pound weight of silver (or of the alloy used). 
It Is usually discriminated from the pound weight by the 
epithet itrnintt. The pound Scots was equal to a twelfth 
