punch

PUNCH/pʌnt͡ʃ/

25 meanings of punch

1
nouncountable
A blow struck with the closed fist.
A single punch to the jaw ended the fight.
She delivered a quick punch and then stepped back out of reach.
Similarblow, hit, thump
Note
The everyday blow is the root of a surprisingly mixed family. Behind it lies Latin pungō, "I prick," reached through Old French ponchon, a pointed tool, with Middle English punischen, "to punish," folded in as well. Football gives it a specialist use: a goalkeeper who cannot hold the ball punches it clear, and a weak punch is one that fails to clear the danger.
2
verbtransitive
To strike someone or something with the closed fist.
I punch the heavy bag every morning to build strength.
She punched the attacker hard enough to knock him down.
Similarhit, strike, thump, slug
3
noununcountable
A drink made from a mixture of fruit juice and other beverages, often including alcohol.
The host spiked the punch with rum before the guests arrived.
A bowl of citrus punch sat at the center of the table.
Note
The drink is named for a number. It comes from Hindi pā̃c, "five," for its original five ingredients: spirits, water, lemon juice, sugar and spice. That makes it a doublet of five itself, and of cinque and ponzu. It has no connection to the blow or the tool. As a usually uncountable noun, it is served by the bowl or the glass.
4
nouncountable
A device used to make holes in paper or other thin material.
She lined up the sheets and pressed the punch down firmly.
A two-hole punch sits beside the printer for binding reports.
5
nouncountable
A slender, round tool used to make holes in material, drive objects through holes, or stamp a mark onto a surface.
The machinist set the punch against the steel plate and struck it sharply.
A leatherworker used a punch to stamp a pattern into the belt.
Note
The tool comes down a second line from the same Latin source as the blow. Puncheon was shortened to punch, from Old French ponchon, "pointed tool," and ultimately from pungō, "I prick." One word covers three jobs: piercing thin material, driving a pin through a hole, and stamping a design. Context or a modifier, as in hole punch, tells them apart.
6
noununcountable
Power, strength, or energy, especially as a quality that makes something effective or impressive.
The engine still has plenty of punch despite its age.
Her closing argument delivered real punch to the jury.
Similarpower, strength, force, vigor, oomph
Note
As an uncountable noun it takes no article: something has punch, lacks punch, or loses its punch. A tornado can lose it, and Harry Seng, writing in Gay Community News in 1978, said Nixon took most of the punch out of the Red Scare. Unlike the sense of impact, which is about the effect on an audience, this is the force a thing carries in itself.
7
verbtransitive
To use a punch to make a hole in something or to stamp or emboss a mark on it.
The craftsman punched decorative marks into the silver cuff.
Workers punch holes in the strap to adjust its length.
Similarstamp, emboss
8
nouncountable
A hole or opening made using a punch.
She threaded the lace through every punch along the edge.
The loyalty card had six punches, one for each visit.
Similarhole, perforation
9
verbtransitive
To mark a ticket, typically by making a hole in it, to show that it has been used.
Conductors punch every ticket before the train leaves the station.
She punched the commuter's pass and waved him through.
Similarclip, validate, stamp
Note
Ticket punching once had its own machine, the bell punch. In 1950, R. C. J. Day and R. K. Kirkland described the guard on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light Railway jumping from coach to coach. He took orders, punched the tickets on a bell punch in his van, and came back to hand them out. Today the verb covers any marking of a ticket as used.
10
verbtransitive
To operate a device or system by pressing a button, key, bar, or pedal.
Punch the start key and the printer comes to life.
He punched the controls and the elevator began to rise.
Similarpress, push, hit, jab
Note
The watchman's clock is the classic object here. A night watchman on rounds carried a key and punched the clock at each station, which proved the patrol had been walked. The object of this sense is the machine itself. With entering information, the object is what goes in: you punch the clock, but you punch in a number.

11
verbtransitive
To make holes in something, such as a rail ticket or a leather belt.
Workers punch each leather strap before stitching it together.
She punched the cardboard to thread a string through it.
Similarpierce, perforate, puncture
Note
Hole-making is where the blow and the tool overlap. This verb descends from the striking verb, while using a punch tool comes from the tool's own name, and both go back to Old French ponchon, "pointed tool." The core pattern is punch a hole in something: a ticket, a belt, or, in Taylor Swift's "Clean," a roof.
12
verbtransitive
To emphasize something, or to give strong emphasis to a point or idea.
The director told her to punch the last line of the monologue.
The ad punches its main message with bold, repeated images.
Similaremphasize, stress, accentuate, underline, highlight
Oppositedownplay, understate
13
noununcountable
The strong impact or effect that something has on those who experience it.
The headline was written to deliver maximum punch.
Without a strong finish, the presentation lost its punch.
Similarimpact, force, effect, bite, kick
14
verbtransitive
To enter information into a device or system, typically by pressing keys or buttons.
Operators punch each order into the system as it arrives.
He punched the figures into the spreadsheet before lunch.
Similarenter, key, type, input
15
verbintransitive
To thrust or poke against something.
Swimmers punch against the strong current to reach the shore.
He punched against the jammed door with his shoulder.
Similarpush, thrust, shove, press, drive
16
verbtransitive
To use less than full strength when striking a ball or similar object.
Good players punch the ball to keep it low and controlled.
She punched the shuttlecock just past the net.
Similartap, knock
17
nounrarecountable
A blow delivered by something other than the fist.
The machine landed a sharp punch on the metal plate.
He felt a sudden punch as the beam swung into his side.
Similarblow, hit, knock, thump, jolt
Note
Rare today, because a blow from anything but a fist usually gets a more specific word. C. S. Lewis uses it in The Horse and His Boy (1954): a punch from the butt end of a spear, where the blunt end does a fist's work. If you use it, name the object with from, so the reader does not picture a fist.
18
verbslangUKintransitiveabbreviationellipsis
Ellipsis of punch above one's weight: to date somebody more attractive than oneself.
My mates reckon I really punch, going out with someone as stunning as Priya.
She's punching, dating someone that good-looking.
Note
This is a clipping of punch above one's weight, the idiom for performing beyond what one's rank, attributes or record would predict. In British slang it narrows to romance and takes no object: someone who is punching is dating a more attractive partner. The bare verb belongs to casual speech, where context supplies the missing words. In writing, the full idiom is safer.
19
verbtransitive
To stamp down the grape skins that float to the surface during fermentation.
Cellar workers punch the cap by hand throughout the day.
He punched the must down to keep the skins submerged.
Note
A winemaker's verb, and the English for French pigeage. The skins and seeds that rise on fermenting red wine form a floating cap. Pressing that cap back down keeps the skins in contact with the juice, so their color, tannin and flavor pass into the wine. The verb usually takes down and the cap as its object: cellar hands punch down the cap.
20
nouncountable
An extension piece fitted to the top of a pile during driving; also known as a dolly.
The workers placed a punch on the pile before the hammer struck again.
A steel punch protected the pile head from the driving blows.
Similardolly
Note
Pile-driving keeps the old tool name for an extension piece, also called a dolly. It sits on the pile head so the hammer can keep driving after the top of the pile has sunk below its reach. Its job is to carry the blow downward, not to pierce, and that is what separates it from the hole-making tool.
21
verbtransitive
To herd or drive livestock from place to place.
Drovers punch the herd across open country each morning.
He punched the cattle toward the river at first light.
Similardrive, herd, move
22
nouncountable
A prop or support, such as one used to hold up the roof of a mine.
They wedged a fresh punch beneath the loose rock overhead.
The old punch finally gave way under the weight of the seam.
Similarprop, support, post, strut
23
nouncountable
Any of various Asian butterflies of the genus Dodona, part of the riodinid family.
A punch settled on a flower beside the trail, wings half open in the sun.
The naturalist photographed three punches feeding near the stream.
Note
Butterfly names have their own source here: the name Punch, not the blow or the drink. It covers the Asian genus Dodona, part of the riodinids, the family usually called metalmarks. Because it works as a name for the whole genus, a particular species is normally called by a describing word placed in front of it.
24
nounarchaic
A short and fat person.
The innkeeper was a cheerful punch with a red, round face.
Now the effigies makes Robert to have been a juvenile figure of the best height, 5 f. 10 inch.; taller or shorter men being generally ill-made, knock-kneed, or Punches.
1836, T[homas] D[udley] Fosbroke, “[Monument of Robert [Curthose] Duke of Normandy]”
Note
Samuel Pepys heard poor people calling their fat child Punch in 1669, and by 1774 a punch was a character at a masquerade. The origin is uncertain, perhaps a shortening of puncheon or of Punchinello. The word is now rare and survived mainly in regional speech. Treat it as historical, because applied to a living person it sounds old-fashioned and mocking.
25
adjectivearchaicNorthern EnglandScotland
Short and thickset in build.
Note
The adjective shares the uncertain origin of the short fat person and, like it, belongs to older usage, lasting longest in Scotland and Northern England. It stood directly before its noun. The London Gazette of 1679 advertised a little gray punch horse, and De La Mottraye in 1723 wrote of a short punch shape. Modern English would say stocky.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–2, 6, 10–19, 21

From Middle English punchen, which came partly from Old French ponchonner ("to punch"), from ponchon ("pointed tool"), and ultimately from Latin punctio, from punctus, the past participle of pungō ("I prick"). It was also partly a shortened variant of Middle English punischen ("to punish") and influenced by punchon ("a punch").

Meanings 4–5, 7–9, 20, 22

A shortened form of puncheon, from Middle English punchoun, from Old French ponchon ("pointed tool"), from Latin punctio, from punctus, the past participle of pungō ("I prick").

Meaning 3

From Hindi पाँच (pā̃c) / Urdu پانچ (pānc, "five"), from Sanskrit पञ्चन् (páñcan), so named because the drink originally had five ingredients: spirits, water, lemon juice, sugar, and spice. It is a doublet of five, cinque, and pimp.

Meaning 23

From Punch.

Meanings 24–25

Uncertain. Perhaps shortened from puncheon (compare German Punze, Punzen, "cask; short fat person or thing") or from Punchinello.