punch definition | Dictionary.com

punch

1 [puhnch]

–noun

1.	a thrusting blow, esp. with the fist.

2.	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 pounce ¹

Related forms:

puncher, noun

Synonyms:
3. strike, hit; drub, pummel.

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punch

2 [puhnch]

–noun

1.	a tool or machine for perforating or stamping materials, driving nails, etc.

2.	the solid upper die of a punch press, used with a hollow die to blank out shaped pieces of sheet metal or the like.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to cut, stamp, pierce, perforate, form, or drive with a tool or machine that punches.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to work at or on something with or as if with a mechanical punch.

Origin:
1495–1505; short for puncheon ² , reinforced by punch ¹

Related forms:

punch⋅a⋅ble, adjective

punch

3 [puhnch]

–noun

1.	a beverage consisting of wine or spirits mixed with fruit juice, soda, water, milk, or the like, and flavored with sugar, spices, etc.

2.	a beverage of two or more fruit juices, sugar, and water, sometimes carbonated.

Origin:
1625–35; of uncert. orig.

Punch

[puhnch]

–noun

1.	the chief male character in a Punch-and-Judy show.

—Idiom

2.	pleased as Punch, highly pleased; delighted: They were pleased as Punch at having been asked to come along.

Origin:
short for punchinello

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To punch

punch¹ (pŭnch)

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.]
punch'er n.

punch² (pŭnch)

tr.v. punched, punch·ing, punch·es

To hit with a sharp blow of the fist.
1. To poke or prod with a stick.
2. Western U.S. To herd (cattle).
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.

A blow with the fist.
Vigor or drive. See Synonyms at vigor.
To check out formally at a job upon departure.
To knock unconscious with a punch.
Slang To eject from a military aircraft.

Phrasal Verb(s):
punch inTo 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 punchTo 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'less adj.

punch³ (pŭnch)

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 penk^we in Indo-European roots.]

Punch (pŭnch)

n. The quarrelsome hook-nosed husband of Judy in the comic puppet show Punch and Judy.

[Short for Punchinello.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Punch

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

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

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

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.

Punch

Punch\, n. A thrust or blow. [Colloq.]

Punch

Punch\, n. [Abbrev. fr. puncheon.]

1. A tool, usually of steel, variously shaped at one end for different uses, and either solid, for stamping or for perforating holes in metallic plates and other substances, or hollow and sharpedged, for cutting out blanks, as for buttons, steel pens, jewelry, and the like; a die.

2. (Pile Driving) An extension piece applied to the top of a pile; a dolly.

3. A prop, as for the roof of a mine.

Bell punch. See under Bell.

Belt punch (Mach.), a punch, or punch pliers, for making holes for lacings in the ends of driving belts.

Punch press. See Punching machine, under Punch, v. i.

Punch pliers, pliers having a tubular, sharp-edged steel punch attached to one of the jaws, for perforating leather, paper, and the like.

Punch

Punch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Punched; p. pr. & vb. n. Punching.] [From Punch, n., a tool; cf. F. poin[,c]onner.] To perforate or stamp with an instrument by pressure, or a blow; as, to punch a hole; to punch ticket.

Punching machine, or Punching press, a machine tool for punching holes in metal or other material; -- called also punch press.

Language Translation for : punch

Spanish: ponche,

German: der Punch,

Japanese: パンチ

More Translations »

punch (v.)

"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.

punch (n.1)

"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.

punch (n.2)

"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.

Punch

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.

punch

In addition to the idioms beginning with punch, also see beat to it (the punch); can't punch one's way out of a paper bag; pack a punch; pleased as punch; pull no punches; roll with the punches; sucker punch; throw a punch.

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