poulter, a dealer in poultry. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 19; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. From poult, a chicken.
poulter’s measure, poulterer’s measure; a fanciful name for a metre consisting of lines of 12 and 14 syllables alternately, common in Surrey and Gascoigne. See Gascoigne’s Steel Glas (ed. Arber, 39).
poult-foot, powlt-foot, a club-foot, Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 97); B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 7. See NED. (s.v. Polt-foot).
Poultry, the Counter prison in the Poultry, London. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 3 (1 Officer); ‘Some four houses west from this parish church of St. Mildred is a prison-house pertaining to one of the sheriffs of London, and is called the Compter in the Poultrie’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p. 99).
pounce, to ornament (cloth, &c.) by punching small holes or figures; also, to cut the edges into points and scallops, to jag. ‘A . . . cote, garded and pounced’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 3, § 1; Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 508. Cognate with Norm. F. ponçon, ‘poinçon, instrument de fer ou d’acier servant à percer’ (Moisy).
pouncet-box, 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 38; a Shaks. term for a small box for perfumes, with a perforated lid. It may be for pounced box, from pounce, to perforate. See above.
pouncing, the action of powdering the face with a cosmetic, ‘Pouncings and paintings’, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 1 (Valentine); Knight of Malta, ii. 1 (Norandine). See NED. (s.v. Pounce, vb.3 3).
pouned, impounded, shut up (as horses) in a pound; ‘Married once, a man is . . . poun’d’, Massinger, Fatal Dowry, iv. 1 (Novall jun.). Cp. pounded; ‘fairly pounded’ (i.e. married), Colman, Jealous Wife, ii. 1 (Sir H. Beagle).
powder, to sprinkle with salt, to salt. 1 Hen. IV, v. 4. 112. Hence Powder-beef, salted beef, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3. 4. Also, to sweat in a hot tub, to cure disease; Meas. for M. iii. 2. 62; powdering-tub, Hen. V, ii. 1. 79.
practice, scheming or planning, treachery. King Lear, ii. 4. 116; B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 5 (Catulus). See Nares.