pun
[puhn]
- the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.
- the word or phrase used in this way.
Show More
- to make puns.
Show More
Origin of pun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for puns
Contemporary Examples
Stephen Colbert dug up the clip and had a laugh, sprinkling on some fun with puns to seal the deal.
Yet despite his pleas, and perhaps because of his puns, I want to give him a hand.
The most retweeted messages are those with jests and puns and wordplay—and graffiti.
It is an unabashed statement about corporate identity rather than product—akin to Kenneth Cole, but without the puns.
You ditch worn out habits and routines— the same old group playing the same old games—for new toys and tricks, puns intended.
Historical Examples
"Neither does our excellent preceptress approve of puns," said Clara.
A Tangled TaleLewis Carroll
The puns have a flavour of their medival home, the monasteries.
The Civilisation of the Renaissance in ItalyJacob Burckhardt
Emma cried, and he tried to console her, adorning his protestations with puns.
Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert
Emma wept, and he tried to console her, adorning his protestations with puns.
Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert
He puns on the name Molon and molæ, "mill at which slaves worked."
The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1Marcus Tullius Cicero
pun1
- the use of words or phrases to exploit ambiguities and innuendoes in their meaning, usually for humorous effect; a play on words. An example is: "Ben Battle was a soldier bold, And used to war's alarms: But a cannonball took off his legs, So he laid down his arms." (Thomas Hood)
Show More
- (intr) to make puns
Show More
Word Origin
C17: possibly from Italian puntiglio point of detail, wordplay; see punctilio
pun2
- (tr) British to pack (earth, rubble, etc) by pounding
Show More
Word Origin
C16: dialectal variant of pound 1
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 puns
pun
n.
1660s (first attested in Dryden), of uncertain origin, perhaps from pundigron, which is perhaps a humorous alteration of Italian puntiglio "equivocation, trivial objection," diminutive of Latin punctum "point." This is pure speculation. The verb also is attested from 1660s. Related: Punned; punning.
Pun was prob. one of the clipped words, such as cit, mob, nob, snob, which came into fashionable slang at or after the Restoration. [OED]
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pun
A humorous substitution of words that are alike in sound but different in meaning (see double-entendre), as in this passage from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll:
“And how many hours a day did you do lessons?” said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
“Ten hours the first day,” said the Mock Turtle, “nine the next, and so on.”
“What a curious plan!” exclaimed Alice.
“That's the reason they're called lessons,” the Gryphon remarked: “because they lessen from day to day.”
Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.