To chew or chomp noisily; to move restlessly or impatiently.
From Middle English, likely imitative in origin (onomatopoeia), possibly related to 'launch' or 'munch'. The exact etymology is uncertain, but it may derive from Scandinavian or Germanic sources. It's primarily a dialectal or regional word.
This is a wonderfully expressive word—it sounds like what it means! If you listen to horses, you can literally hear them 'faunching'—chomping and restlessly moving around. It's the kind of word that's so vivid it should be used more often!
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