faunch v Also with along, around Also sp fauch, fawnch [Orig uncert]
1 To rant, rave, rage; hence ppl adj faunched, faunching angry. chiefly S Midl, West1911 DN 3.543 NE, The father fairly faunched when he found that his children had played truant. 1923 DN 5.206 swMO, Faunch. . . To rave, make an outcry against. 1930 Williams Logger-Talk 23 Pacific NW, Faunching: Raving angry. 1933 Williamson Woods Colt 168 Ozarks, It’s jest once in a great while that George gits to foamin’ an’ faunchin’, but law! when he does he’s a reg’lar springtime flood. 1941 AmSp 16.22 swIN, Fawnch. To rage. 1942 Whipple Joshua 168 UT (as of c1860s), ‘Laws,’ said Willie, . . ‘did you see that Marianne Snow a-faunchin’ around?’ Ibid 376, ‘Quit your faunchin’ around, then!’ shrilled ’Sheba, clouting him over the ear. 1949 PADS 11.6 wTX (as of c1920), “That really made him faunch.” Occasional. Uneducated. 1953 Randolph Down in Holler 243 Ozarks, A man in Stone County, Mo., was described as “poundin’ on the table with his knife, just a-fawnchin’ an’ a-slaverin’ for his victuals.” 1958 PADS 29.22 IN, Mary Jane (being angry) was just “a-fauchin’ ”. 1960 Carpenter Tales Manchaca 50 cTX, But worse . . than a visitation from the Clootie himself were those faunching (as we say in my family), snorting, pawing-the-earth bulls. 1966 Giles Great Adventure 66 West (as of 1830s), Old Dan was faunchin’ along. Ibid 117, Fouchette’s face was dark and young Pete was in a faunching rage. 1982 Smithsonian Letters sIN, She was describing how upset and agitated and downright angry she was at her grandmother. . . she again said that she “was faunched.”
2 To fret; to show irritation or impatience.1970 DARE (Qu. GG14, . . Someone who fusses or worries a lot) Inf IL143, He faunches [ˈfɔnčɪz]. 1984 Weaver TX Crude 112, Fawnching. Complaining, sulking. . . “I want you to quit fawnchin’ around this house and get out there.” 1989 DARE File, The verb faunch is part of my vocabulary and was absorbed, I’m sure, from my grandmother’s speech which reflected the late nineteenth & early twentieth century usage of south-western Kansas. Typical of this usage were such expressions as: “Jody was faunching to get done with it.” To faunch here means to feel or show impatience in the eager or anxious anticipation of something.