pounce

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A fine powder formerly used to smooth and finish writing paper and soak up ink.
• noun A fine powder, such as pulverized charcoal, dusted over a stencil to transfer a design to an underlying surface.
• transitive verb To sprinkle, smooth, or treat with pounce.
• transitive verb To transfer (a stenciled design) with pounce.
• transitive verb To ornament (metal, for example) by perforating from the back with a pointed implement.
• intransitive verb To spring or swoop with intent to seize someone or something.
• intransitive verb To attack or criticize suddenly.
• intransitive verb To turn the attention to and try to take advantage of.
• noun The act or an instance of pouncing.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A punch or puncheon; a stamp.
• noun A sharp-pointed graver.
• noun Cloth pounced, or worked with eyelet-holes.
• noun A claw or talon of a bird of prey; the claw or paw of any animal.
• To punch; prick; perforate; make holes in; specifically, to ornament by perforating or cutting; ornament with holes, especially eyelet-holes.
• To cut, as glass or metal; ornament by cutting.
• To seize with the pounces; strike suddenly with the claws or talons.
• In hat-making, to raise a nap on (a felt hat). See pouncing-machine.
• To fall on and seize with the pounces or talons; dart or dash upon, like a bird of prey upon its victim; seize suddenly: used with on or upon.
• noun A substance, such as powdered sepia-bone or powdered sandarach, used to prevent blotting in rewriting over erasures, and in medicine as an antacid; also, a similar powder used in the preparation of parchment or writing-paper.
• noun A powder (especially, the gum of the juniper-tree reduced to a finely pulverized state, or finely powdered pipe-clay darkened by charcoal) inclosed in a bag of some open stuff, and passed over holes pricked in a design to transfer the lines to a paper underneath. This kind of pounce is used by embroiderers to transfer their patterns to their stuffs; also by fresco-painters, and sometimes by engravers.
• noun A powder used as a medicine or cosmetic.
• To sprinkle or rub with pounce; powder.
• To trace by rubbing pounce through holes pricked in the outline of a pattern: as, to pounce a design. See pouncing.
• To imprint or copy a design upon by means of pounce. See pouncing.
• In hat-making, to grind or finish (felt hats) by dressing them with sandpaper.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, -- formerly used to prevent ink from spreading on manuscript.
• noun Charcoal dust, or some other colored powder for making patterns through perforated designs, -- used by embroiderers, lace makers, etc.
• noun a box for sprinkling pounce.
• noun a transparent paper for tracing.
• transitive verb To sprinkle or rub with pounce.
• noun The claw or talon of a bird of prey.
• noun obsolete A punch or stamp.
• noun obsolete Cloth worked in eyelet holes.
• transitive verb Archaic To strike or seize with the talons; to pierce, as with the talons.
• transitive verb obsolete To punch; to perforate; to stamp holes in, or dots on, by way of ornament.
• intransitive verb To fall suddenly and seize with the claws; -- with on or upon. Also used figuratively.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A type of fine powder sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing.
• verb intransitive To leap into the air intending to seize someone or something.
• verb intransitive To attack suddenly.
• verb intransitive To eagerly seize an opportunity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of pouncing
• verb move down on as if in an attack