• countenaunce(obsolete)

FromMiddle Englishcontenaunce,countenaunce, fromAnglo-Normancountenance andOld Frenchcontenance, from the present participle ofcontenir, or fromLate Latincontinentia, and therefore adoublet ofcontinence.

• (UK,US)IPA^(key):/ˈkaʊn.tə.nəns/,/ˈkaʊnt.nəns/

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• (General Australian)IPA^(key):[kæũ̯n.tɪ̆.nəns]

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countenance (countable anduncountable,pluralcountenances)

1. Appearance, especially thefeatures andexpression of theface.
   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Genesis4:5:

     But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and hiscountenance fell.

   • 1834,L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXI, inFrancesca Carrara. […], volume II, London:Richard Bentley, […], (successor toHenry Colburn),→OCLC,page319:

     It was as if thecountenance were for a brief while allowed to wear the likeness of the peaceful and spiritual world whither the soul had departed.

   • 1959,Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, inThe Unknown Ajax:

     But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromisingcountenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.

   • 1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “"Condor"—British Railways' fastest freight train”, inTrains Illustrated, page46:

     With such powerful selling-points, why is it, as recent editorial comment and correspondence in this journal has revealed, that "Condor" has yet to bring a warm glow to thecountenance of the L.M.R.'s accountants?

2. Favour; support; encouragement.
   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Psalms21:6:

     Thou hast made him[…]glad with thycountenance.

   • 1706 September 19 (Gregorian calendar),Francis Atterbury, “A Sermon Preach’d in the Guild-Hall Chapel, London, Sept. 28. 1706. Being the Day of the Election of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor.”, inFourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London:[…] E. P.[Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published1708,→OCLC,page424:

     This is the Magiſtrate's peculiar Province, to giveCountenance to Piety and Virtue, and to rebuke Vice and Prophaneneſs;[…]

   • 1837,L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon],Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London:Henry Colburn, […],→OCLC,pages179–180:

     However, the poor old lady is in great distress; she and her grandaughter are coming up to London, and I wish to give them all possiblecountenance and assistance.

   • 1926,T.E. Lawrence,Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published1991, page174:

     All feared and obeyed him; to use his roads we must have hiscountenance.

3. (obsolete) Superficial appearance; show; pretense.
   • a.1569 (date written),Roger Ascham, edited byMargaret Ascham,The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London:[…]John Daye, […], published1570,→OCLC:

     The election being done, he madecountenance of great discontent thereat.

4. Calm facial expression,composure,self-control.

• see alsoThesaurus:countenance

countenance (third-person singular simple presentcountenances,present participlecountenancing,simple past and past participlecountenanced)

1. (transitive) Totolerate,support,sanction,patronise orapprove of something.

   Synonyms:approve,sanction,support,tolerate

   The cruel punishment wascountenanced by the government, although it was not officially legal.

   I won'tcountenance other than compunctious semblances for such a grievous blunder.

   • 1937,Willa Muir andEdwin Muir (translators),The Trial, (Der Prozess 1925,Franz Kafka), Vintage Books (London), pg. 99

     For the Defence was not actuallycountenanced by the Law, but only tolerated, and there were differences of opinion even on that point, whether the Law could be interpreted to admit such tolerances at all.

   • 2005,Tony Judt, “The Politics of Stability”, inPostwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published2010,→ISBN:

     But even though the Pleven Plan was the brainchild of a French prime minister, public debate had revealed the extent of French reluctance tocountenance German rearmament under any conditions.

   • 2022 May 31, James Vincent, “Boris Johnson’s move to bring back imperial units is pure piffle – and simply unfathomable”, inThe Guardian‎^[1]:

     There are obvious reasons to cherish and respect imperial units of measure.[…] Very few of us wouldcountenance the removal of pints from pubs, for example.

   • 2022 October 17, “Jeremy Hunt shreds Truss’s economic plans in astounding U-turn on tax”, inThe Guardian‎^[2]:

     The new chancellor dismantled almost all of the platform that Truss’s leadership victory had been built on, including the majority of her tax cuts, and hinted a new windfall tax was in his sights – a move the PM had previously said she would notcountenance.

• William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “countenance”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
• “countenance”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• “countenance”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.

• contenance
• contennaunce
• continance

Fromcontenant, the present participle ofcontenir, with the suffix-ance, corresponding toLate Latincontinentia. See alsocontinence.

countenanceoblique singular, f (oblique pluralcountenances,nominative singularcountenance,nominative pluralcountenances)

1. (Anglo-Norman)appearance;countenance
   • e moustre parcontenance q'il ad honte de ceo q'il ad fet

     And he showed by his appearance that he was ashamed of what he had done.

• contenant
• contenir

• English:countenance
• French:contenance

• contenance on theAnglo-Norman On-Line Hub