forcefulness, effectiveness, or pungency in content or appeal; power; zest: a letter to voters that needs more punch.
–verb (used with object)
3.
to give a sharp thrust or blow to, esp. with the fist.
4.
Western U.S.and Western Canada. to drive (cattle).
5.
to poke or prod, as with a stick.
6.
Informal. to deliver (lines in a play, a musical passage, or the like) with vigor.
7.
to strike or hit in operating: to punch the typewriter keys.
8.
to put into operation with or as if with a blow: to punch a time clock.
9.
Baseball. to hit (the ball) with a short, chopping motion rather than with a full swing: He punched a soft liner just over third base for a base hit.
–verb (used without object)
10.
to give a sharp blow to a person or thing, as with the fist: The boxer punches well.
—Verb phrases
11.
punch away, Informal. to keep trying or working, esp. in difficult or discouraging circumstances; persevere: punching away at the same old job.
12.
punch in,
a.
to record one's time of arrival at work by punching a time clock.
b.
to keyboard (information) into a computer: to punch in the inventory figures.
13.
punch out,
a.
to record one's time of departure from work by punching a time clock.
b.
Slang. to beat up or knock out with the fists.
c.
to extract (information) from a computer by the use of a keyboard: to punch out data on last week's sales.
d.
to bail out; eject from an aircraft.
14.
punch up,
a.
to call up (information) on a computer by the use of a keyboard: to punch up a list of hotel reservations.
b.
Informal. to enliven, as with fresh ideas or additional material: You'd better punch up that speech with a few jokes.
—Idioms
15.
pull punches,
a.
to lessen deliberately the force of one's blows.
b.
Informal. to act with restraint or hold back the full force or implications of something: He wasn't going to pull any punches when he warned them of what they would be up against.
16.
roll with the punches, Informal. to cope with and survive adversity: In the business world you quickly learn to roll with the punches.
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME punchen (v.); appar. var. of pounce1]
A tool for circular or other piercing: a leather punch.
A tool for forcing a pin, bolt, or rivet in or out of a hole.
A tool for stamping a design on a surface.
A tool for making a countersink.
intr. & tr.v.
punched, punch·ing, punch·es
To use a punch or use a punch on.
[Middle English pounce, punche, from Old French poinçon, ponchon; see puncheon1. V., from Middle English pouncen, punchen, to prick, from Old French poinçoner, ponchoner, to emboss with a punch; see punch2.]
To depress (a key or button, for example) in order to activate a device or perform an operation: punched the "repeat" key; punched in the number on the computer.
Baseball To hit (a ball) with a quick short swing.
Phrasal Verb(s): punch in
To check in formally at a job upon arrival.
punch out
To check out formally at a job upon departure.
To knock unconscious with a punch.
Slang To eject from a military aircraft.
Idiom(s):
beat to the punch
To make the first decisive move: a marketing team that beat all the competitors to the punch.
[Middle English punchen, to thrust, prod, prick, from Old French poinçonner, ponchonner, to emboss with a punch, from poinçon, ponchon, pointed tool; see puncheon1.]
punch 3Audio Help (pŭnch) Pronunciation Key
n.
A beverage of fruit juices and sometimes a soft drink or carbonated water, often spiced and mixed with a wine or liquor base.
[Perhaps from Hindi pañc, five, from Sanskrit pañca (from its originally having been prepared from five ingredients); see penkwe in Indo-European roots.]
"to drive (cattle, etc.) by poking and prodding," c.1382, from O.Fr. ponchonner "to punch, prick, stamp," from ponchon "pointed tool, piercing weapon" (see punch (n.1)). Meaning "to stab, puncture" is from c.1440. Specific meaning of "to hit with the fist" first recorded 1530, probably influenced by punish. To punch a ticket, etc., is c.1440, probably from a shortening of puncheon "pointed tool," from O.Fr. ponchon.
"pointed tool," c.1460, short for puncheon (1367), from O.Fr. ponchon "pointed tool, piercing weapon," from V.L. *punctionem (nom. punctio) "pointed tool," from L. punctus, pp. of pungere "to prick." Meaning "machine for pressing or stamping a die" is from 1628; sense of "a blow with the first" is from 1580. Fig. sense of "forceful, vigorous quality" is recorded from 1911. To beat (someone) to the punch is from 1923, a metaphor from boxing. Punch line is from 1921; punch-drunk is from 1915.
"mixed drink," 1632, traditionally said to derive from Hindi panch "five," in allusion to the number of original ingredients (spirits, water, lemon juice, sugar, spice), from Skt. panchan-s.
the puppet show star, 1709, shortening of Punchinello (1666), from It. (Neapolitan) Pollecinella, dim. of pollecena "turkey pullet," probably in allusion to his big nose. The phrase pleased as punch apparently refers to his unfailing triumph over enemies. The comic weekly of this name was published in London from 1841.
Five\, a. [OE. fif, five, AS. f[=i]f, f[=i]fe; akin to D. vijf, OS. f[=i]f, OHG. finf, funf, G. f["u]nf, Icel. fimm, Sw. & Sw. Dan. fem, Goth. fimf, Lith. penki, W. pump, OIr. c['o]ic, L. quinque, Gr. ?, [AE]ol. ?, Skr. pa?can. [root]303. Cf. Fifth, Cinque, Pentagon, Punch the drink, Quinary.] Four and one added; one more than four. Five nations (Ethnol.), a confederacy of the Huron-Iroquois Indians, consisting of five tribes: Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, and Senecas. They inhabited the region which is now the State of new York.
Pounce\, n. [Prob. through French, from an assumed LL. punctiare to prick, L. pungere, punctum. See Puncheon, Punch, v. t.]1. The claw or talon of a bird of prey. --Spenser. Burke. 2. A punch or stamp. [Obs.] "A pounce to print money with." --Withals. 3. Cloth worked in eyelet holes. [Obs.] --Homilies.
Punch\, n. [Hind. p[=a]nch five, Skr. pa?can. So called because composed of five ingredients, viz., sugar, arrack, spice, water, and lemon juice. See Five.] 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. Roman punch, a punch frozen and served as an ice.
Punch\, n. [Abbrev, fr. punchinello.] 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.
Punch\, n. [Prov. E. Cf. Punchy.]1. A short, fat fellow; anything short and thick. I . . . did hear them call their fat child punch, which pleased me mightily, that word being become a word of common use for all that is thick and short. --Pepys. 2. One of a breed of large, heavy draught horses; as, the Suffolk punch.
Punch\, v. t. [OE. punchen, perhaps the same word as E. punish: or cf. E. bunch.] To thrust against; to poke; as, to punch one with the end of a stick or the elbow.
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