air-punchingn.
/ˈɛːpʌn(t)ʃɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈɛ(ə)rˌpən(t)ʃɪŋ/ The action of thrusting one's clenched fist into the air, typically as a gesture of elation or triumph. Also: the action of delivering blows with the fist which do not strike a target.
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society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > other gestures > [noun] > other
irpe1601
impression1613
eye-roll1928
air-punching1953
moony1987
tomahawk chop1991
facepalm1996
1953 Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram 3 Aug. (Home ed.) a15/1 The rhubarb started in the sixth inning... Moran blew his cork and led the Bannocks onto the greensward for a 50-second period of air-punching.
1977 Guardian 9 July 20/6 The old grin was as wide as an elephant's hide and the air-punching as ecstatic as all the old sepia prints remind us from the mid-sixties.
1980 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Oct. c18/5 The dancing features finger-pointing and air-punching.
1996 R. Rendell Keys to Street xviii. 182 He'd..done some Power Ranger exercises, air punching and karate kicks.
2007 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 July 16/1 All the jokey young men are given to footballerish air-punching, jumping and mid-air hugging.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1953