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pun

[puhn]
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noun

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.

verb (used without object), punned, pun·ning.

to make puns.

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RELATED WORDS

joke, quip, witticism, conceit, quibble, ambiguity, paronomasia, equivoque

Origin of pun

1655–65; perhaps special use of pun, variant (now dial.) of pound1, i.e., to mistreat (words)
Related formspun·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for puns

Contemporary Examples of puns

Historical Examples of puns

British Dictionary definitions for puns

pun

1

noun

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)

verb puns, punning or punned

(intr) to make puns

Word Origin for pun

C17: possibly from Italian puntiglio point of detail, wordplay; see punctilio

pun

2

verb puns, punning or punned

(tr) British to pack (earth, rubble, etc) by pounding
Derived Formspunner, noun

Word Origin for pun

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]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture definitions for puns

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.”
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.