punch

[puhnch]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR punch ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a thrusting blow, especially with the fist.

forcefulness, effectiveness, or pungency in content or appeal; power; zest: a letter to voters that needs more punch.

verb (used with object)

to give a sharp thrust or blow to, especially with the fist.

Western U.S. and Western Canada. to drive (cattle).

to poke or prod, as with a stick.

Informal. to deliver (lines in a play, a musical passage, or the like) with vigor.

to strike or hit in operating: to punch the typewriter keys.

to put into operation with or as if with a blow: to punch a time clock.

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)

to give a sharp blow to a person or thing, as with the fist: The boxer punches well.

Verb Phrases

punch away, Informal. to keep trying or working, especially in difficult or discouraging circumstances; persevere: punching away at the same old job.

punch in,

to record one's time of arrival at work by punching a time clock.
to keyboard (information) into a computer: to punch in the inventory figures.

punch out,

to record one's time of departure from work by punching a time clock.
Slang.to beat up or knock out with the fists.
to extract (information) from a computer by the use of a keyboard: to punch out data on last week's sales.
to bail out; eject from an aircraft.

punch up,

to call up (information) on a computer by the use of a keyboard: to punch up a list of hotel reservations.
Informal.to enliven, as with fresh ideas or additional material: You'd better punch up that speech with a few jokes.

Idioms

pull punches,

to lessen deliberately the force of one's blows.
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.

roll with the punches, Informal. to cope with and survive adversity: In the business world you quickly learn to roll with the punches.

Origin of punch

1350–1400; Middle English punchen (v.); apparently variant of pounce¹

Related formspunch·er, noun

Synonyms for punch

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR punch ON THESAURUS.COM

3. strike, hit; drub, pummel.

punch

[puhnch]

noun

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

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)

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

verb (used without object)

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

Origin of punch

1495–1505; short for puncheon², reinforced by punch¹

Related formspunch·a·ble, adjective

punch

[puhnch]

noun

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

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

Origin of punch

First recorded in 1625–35; of uncertain origin

Punch

[puhnch]

noun

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

Idioms

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

Origin of Punch

short for punchinello

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for punch

blow, shot, stroke, jab, slap, bite, poke, stab, drill, clip, jog, clout, slam, rap, belt, nudge, pummel, sock, thump, strike

Examples from the Web for punch

Contemporary Examples of punch

Like Mike Tyson says, you have a great fight plan until you come out and take the first punch.
How Will Cuba Play In Peoria?
Eleanor Clift
December 21, 2014
And while all he says he has spoken to still believe the interrogations saved lives, he said the report was a punch in the gut.
CIA Interrogation Chief: ‘Rectal Feeding,’ Broken Limbs Are News to Me
Kimberly Dozier
December 11, 2014
He was a self-made man, and a self-destroyed man—so he wrote his own punch line.
Harry Shearer on Being Nixon, ‘The Simpsons Movie’ Sequel, and Why Obama Should Return His Nobel
Marlow Stern
October 21, 2014
The lines may not seem like much – a punch of poles, wires and equipment.
Electricity Superhighway
October 16, 2014
Open hand right across the face, so hard it felt like a punch.
I Was Pregnant When He Hit Me. Here's #WhyIStayed.
Anonymous
September 10, 2014

Historical Examples of punch

This operation is performed by the aid of a punch and die fitted into a screw-press.
The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens
Henry Bore
This affair had set us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
Well, then, I will turn back with you; but the punch will all be gone, mark my words.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
But this time the cigar and the punch seemed to fail of their effect.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Carton, still drinking the punch, rejoined, "Why should I be astonished?"
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for punch

punch

verb

to strike blows (at), esp with a clenched fist

(tr) Western US to herd or drive (cattle), esp for a living

(tr) to poke or prod with a stick or similar object

punch above one's weight to do something that is considered to be beyond one's ability

noun

a blow with the fist

informal telling force, point, or vigourhis arguments lacked punch

pull one's punches See pull (def. 26)

Derived Formspuncher, noun

Word Origin for punch

C15: perhaps a variant of pounce ²

punch

noun

a tool or machine for piercing holes in a material

any of various tools used for knocking a bolt, rivet, etc, out of a hole

a tool or machine used for stamping a design on something or shaping it by impact

the solid die of a punching machine for cutting, stamping, or shaping material

computing a device, such as a card punch or tape punch, used for making holes in a card or paper tape

See centre punch

verb

(tr) to pierce, cut, stamp, shape, or drive with a punch

Word Origin for punch

C14: shortened from puncheon, from Old French ponçon; see puncheon ²

punch

noun

any mixed drink containing fruit juice and, usually, alcoholic liquor, generally hot and spiced

Word Origin for punch

C17: perhaps from Hindi pānch, from Sanskrit pañca five; the beverage originally included five ingredients

Punch

noun

the main character in the traditional children's puppet show Punch and Judy

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for punch

"to thrust, push; jostle;" also, "prod, to drive (cattle, etc.) by poking and prodding," late 14c., from Old French ponchonner "to punch, prick, stamp," from ponchon "pointed tool, piercing weapon" (see punch (n.1)). Meaning "to pierce, emboss with a tool" is from early 15c.; meaning "to stab, puncture" is from mid-15c. To punch a ticket, etc., is from mid-15c. To punch the clock "record one's arrival at or departure from the workplace using an automated timing device" is from 1900. Related: Punched; punching.

Perhaps you are some great big chief, who has a lot to say.
Who lords it o'er the common herd who chance to come your way;
Well, here is where your arrogance gets a dreadful shock,
When you march up, like a private, salute, and PUNCH THE CLOCK.

[from "Punch the Clock," by "The Skipper," "The Commercial Telegraphers' Journal," May 1912]

Specialized sense "to hit with the fist" first recorded 1520s. Cf. Latin pugnare "to fight with the fists," from a root meaning "to pierce, sting." In English this was probably influenced by punish; "punch" or "punsch" for "punish" is found in documents from 14c.-15c.:

punchyth me, Lorde, and spare my blyssyd wyff Anne. [Coventry Mystery Plays, late 15c.]

To punch (someone) out "beat up" is from 1971.

n.1

"pointed tool for making holes or embossing," late 14c., short for puncheon (mid-14c.), from Old French ponchon, poinchon "pointed tool, piercing weapon," from Vulgar Latin *punctionem (nominative *punctio) "pointed tool," from past participle stem of Latin pungere "to prick" (see pungent). From mid-15c. as "a stab, thrust;" late 15c. as "a dagger." Meaning "machine for pressing or stamping a die" is from 1620s.

n.2

type of mixed drink, 1630s, traditionally since 17c. said to derive from Hindi panch "five," in reference to the number of original ingredients (spirits, water, lemon juice, sugar, spice), from Sanskrit panchan-s, from pancha "five" (see five). But there are difficulties (see OED), and connection to puncheon (n.1) is not impossible.

Punch

the puppet show star, 1709, shortening of Punchinello (1666), from Italian (Neapolitan) Pollecinella, Pollecenella, diminutive 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.

n.3

"a quick blow with the fist," by 1570s, probably from punch (v.). In early use also of blows with the foot or jabs with a staff or club. Originally especially of blows that sink in to some degree ("... whom he unmercifully bruises and batters from head to foot: here a slap in the chaps, there a black eye, now a punch in the stomach, and then a kick on the breech," "Monthly Review," 1763). Figurative sense of "forceful, vigorous quality" is recorded from 1911. To beat (someone) to the punch in the figurative sense is from 1915, a metaphor from boxing (attested by 1913). Punch line (also punch-line) is from 1915 (originally in popular-song writing); punch-drunk is from 1915 (alternative form slug-nutty is from 1933).

Idioms and Phrases with punch

punch

In addition to the idioms beginning with punch

punch in
punch out

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