punch
/pʌnt͡ʃ/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms punches punching punched punce pince
- noun (countable) A hit or strike with one's fist.
- noun (countable, rare) A blow from something other than the fist.
- noun (uncountable) Power, strength, energy. “The tornado is finally losing its punch.”
- noun (uncountable) Impact.
- verb (transitive) To strike with one's fist. “If she punches me, I'm gonna break her nose.”
- verb (transitive, of cattle) To herd.
- verb (transitive) To operate (a device or system) by depressing a button, key, bar, or pedal, or by similar means.
- verb (transitive) To enter (information) on a device or system.
- verb (transitive) To hit (a ball or similar object) with less than full force. “He punched a hit into shallow left field.”
- verb (transitive) To make holes in something (rail ticket, leather belt, etc) (see also the verb under Etymology 2).
- verb To thrust against; to poke. “to punch one with the end of a stick or the elbow”
- verb (transitive, wine) To perform pigeage: to stamp down grape skins that float to the surface during fermentation.
- noun (countable) A device, generally slender and round, used for creating holes in thin material, for driving an object through a hole in a containing object, or to stamp or emboss a mark or design on a surface.
- noun (countable) A mechanism for punching holes in paper or other thin material.
- noun (countable) A hole or opening created with a punch.
- noun (piledriving) An extension piece applied to the top of a pile; a dolly.
- noun A prop, as for the roof of a mine.
- verb To employ a punch to create a hole in or stamp or emboss a mark on something.
- verb To mark a ticket.
- noun A beverage, generally containing a mixture of fruit juice and some other beverage, often alcoholic.
Synonyms
oomph pep blow box knuckle sandwich bunch of fives slug clock clout poke lick biff puncher plug perforate
Etymology
From Middle English punchen, partially from Old French ponchonner (“to punch”), from ponchon (“pointed tool”), from Latin punctio, from punctus, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick”); and partially from Middle English punchen, a syncopated variant of punischen ("to punish"; see punish). Also influenced by Middle English punchon ("a punch"; see puncheon). Compare also Middle English bunchen, bonchen (“to punch, deliver a blow, pound, beat”).
Shortened form of puncheon, from Middle English punchoun, from Old French ponchon (“pointed tool”), from Latin punctio, from punctus, perfect passive participle of pungō (“to prick”).
From Hindi पाँच (pā̃c, “five”)/Urdu پانچ (pānc), because of the drink's original five ingredients (spirits, water, lemon juice, sugar, and spice), from Sanskrit पञ्च (páñca). Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, five, pimp (“five”), ponzu, and sengi (“currency”); related to Punjab and Pompeii.
From Punch.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A beverage composed of wine or distilled liquor, water (or milk), sugar, and the juice of lemon, with spice or mint; --specifically named from the kind of spirit used; as rum punch, claret punch, champagne punch, etc. Milk punch, a sort of punch made with spirit, milk, sugar, spice, etc. -- Punch bowl, a large bowl in which punch is made, or from which it is served.
- noun The buffoon or harlequin of a puppet show. Punch and Judy, a puppet show in which a comical little hunchbacked Punch, with a large nose, engages in altercation with his wife Judy.
- noun A short, fat fellow; anything short and thick.
- noun One of a breed of large, heavy draught horses; as, the Suffolk punch.
Etymology [Hind. panch five, Skr. pacan. So called because composed of five ingredients, viz., sugar, arrack, spice, water, and lemon juice. See Five.]
Etymology [Abbrev, fr. punchinello.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “punch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details