puntsmann.
/ˈpʌn(t)smən/, U.S. /ˈpən(t)sm(ə)n/ A person who propels or handles a punt, or (esp. in earlier use) who goes fishing or shooting in a punt. Cf. punter n.2 1, 2.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > shooting > shooter > [noun] > punt-shooter
punter1814
punt-gunner1840
punt-shooter1847
puntman1851
puntsman1856
float-shooter1882
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > poler or punter
poler1842
puntsman1856
punter1875
puntist1890
puntman1894
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports i. i. viii. 67/1 They afford better sport to the puntsman than to the river-shooter.
1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 531 It being the desire of puntsmen to pot as many birds as possible by one shot.
1882 R. Jefferies Bevis II. 30 The puntsman being too idle to bale till compelled, the space between the real and the false bottom was full of water.
1901 Daily News 8 Feb. 6/4 No puntsman should ever venture off poling ground in Scotland when the wind is in the south.
1942 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 29 Sept. 4/3 Down to the river went the campers, the puntsmen, the launch trippers.
1986 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 6 July x. 24/2 A firm half twist at the end of the stroke..avoided the humiliation of a lost pole, or worse, a lost puntsman.
2004 Observer (Nexis) 15 Feb. (Mag.) 55 Nothing to disturb the peace but the occasional toll of a chapel bell or laughter of distant puntsmen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1856