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keypunch

American  
[kee-puhnch] / ˈkiˌpʌntʃ /

noun

  1. Also called card punch.  Also key punch a machine, operated by a keyboard, for coding information by punching holes in cards or paper tape in specified patterns.


verb (used with object)

  1. to punch holes in (a punch card or paper tape), using a keypunch.

  2. to insert (data) into a computer by means of a keypunch.

    to keypunch code numbers.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of keypunch

First recorded in 1930–35; key 1 + punch 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“She didn’t have $300 for an abortionist and couldn‘t afford to lose her job as a keypunch operator.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 9, 2019

Boston's John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. offers 25-hour work weeks within which keypunch operators can almost select their own hours.

From Time Magazine Archive

A handful of keypunch crooks have already thought of some ingenious ways to defraud the Brain, with varying results.

From Time Magazine Archive

The workers will handle the 200 million taxpayer envelopes, opening and sorting the returns into categories, coding and editing them and then laboriously tapping much of the data into an out-of-date keypunch system.

From Time Magazine Archive

Each line of code was imprinted on the card using a keypunch machine.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

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