1611. Chapman, May-Day, i. 2. If I do not bring . . . at least some special favour from her . . . then never trust my skill in poultry whilst thou livest again.
Pounce, verb. (American).—To
thrash: see Tan.
1847. Porter, Big Bear, &c., 146. He did then and there . . . most wantonly pounced his old wife.
Pouncey. See Ponce.
Pound, subs. (old).—A prison: see
Cage and Lob's Pound. Hence
pounded = imprisoned.—Grose
(1785).
Verb. (colloquial).—To hammer (q.v.): see Tan.—Grose (1785). Whence pounding-match = a fight. Also pun.
1596. Spenser, Fairy Queen, iv. iv. 31. A hundred knights had him enclosed round, . . . All which at once huge strokes on him did pound, in hope to take him prisoner.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, 6. To stampe or punne in a mortar.
1602. Shakspeare, Troilus, ii. 1. He would pun thee into shivers with his fist, as a sailor breaks a biscuit.
1859. Whitby, Political Portraits, 206. The Crimean War was at best a pounding-match; the result proved nothing but that Russia, single-handed, could not hope to keep its ground against united France and England.
1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. To see the men pound each other.
2. (colloquial).—To move forward, steadily and with more or less noise: generally with 'along,' or 'up and down.'
1884. Century Mag., xxxvii. 900. He's pounded up and down across this Territory for the last five years.
1885. Daily Telegraph, 3 Oct. Pounding along a dusty high road.
1894. Yellow Book, i. 196. We can't escape her . . . she pounds along untiringly.
3. (hunting).—To get caught, or left in a field with no easy means of egress save a fence your horse won't take: stuck as in a pound.
1884. Saturday Review, 5 Jan. He jumps a little and I see him pounded every day.
1885. Daily Telegraph, 27 Oct. Any fence which would be likely to pound or give a fall to his rival.
4. (old).—See quot.
1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. ii. This feature is what the bon vivants term being pounded; i.e., being caught "astray" from propriety.
5. (American).—To copulate: see Greens and Ride.
To pound it, verb. phr. (old).—1. See quot. 1819. Hence poundable = certain, inevitable; and (2) to wager in pounds (Bee, 1823).
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Pound It. To ensure or make a certainty of any thing; thus, a man will say, I'll pound it to be so; taken, probably, from the custom of laying, or rather offering ten pounds to a crown at a cock-match, in which case if no person takes this extravagant odds, the battle is at an end. This is termed pounding a cock.
1828. Bee, Living Picture of London, 44. You'll soon be bowled out, I'll pound it.
1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxix. I'll pound it that you han't.
To go one's pound, verb. phr. (military).—To eat a thing out. [The weight of a soldier's ration of bread and meat is 1 lb.]
In for pound, adv. phr. (thieves').—Committed for trial.
Shut in the parson's pound, phr. (old).—Married; spliced (q.v.).—Grose (1785).
