punt1
/pʌnt
/- A passerby on shore heard the cries for help, broke a window in a yacht club, grabbed a pair of oars, slipped a punt in the water and rowed out to where he heard the shouting.
- Where once the harbour might have had a currach or two tied up, the inlet is now festooned with yachts and dinghies and motor boats and punts of all shapes and sizes.
- The last highlight of our trip was being punted along the River Welland by Ashley Hatton, a young man who had the idea for this unusual business last summer.
- Lucy Boston was captivated by it when she first saw the Manor in 1915, while punting along the river with her brother.
- A variation of the first was to punt yourself along, feet pointing straight downward, gathering speed all the time by pushing off left and right.
Origin
Old English, from Latin ponto, denoting a flat-bottomed ferry boat; readopted in the early 16th century from Middle Low German punte or Middle Dutch ponte 'ferry boat', of the same origin.
A flat-bottomed boat, a long kick, and a bet have little in common, and most dictionaries class punt as three separate words. The kind of boat you propel with a long pole is from Latin ponto, which meant ‘flat-bottomed ferry boat’ and is also the source of pontoon, a vessel used to support a temporary bridge or landing stage (see also pontiff). The punt that is a bet is a much later word, from the early 18th century and coming from French ponte or Spanish ponto ‘point’. In English it first referred to a person playing a card game. Punter, ‘a person who gambles’, is from this word—the sense ‘a customer or client’ first appeared as recently as the 1960s. Punt meaning ‘a long kick’ is first recorded in the rules of football at Rugby School, home of rugby, in 1845, only 20 or so years after the game was invented. It may be from the local dialect word punt, meaning ‘to push or kick’.
punt2
/pʌnt/- Holland punts a ball upfield and into what appears to be a parallel universe, where Kevin Kilbane is able to beat his man and deliver a decent cross into the box.
- Ten minutes later Foulger punted the ball upfield and Hoyle flicked it on for Jamie Longley to steer it in.
- At the restart, Armoy fluffed the catch and Shane Hadden was there to punt the ball upfield.
- Peek beat his man and put a big hand on the football just as it was punted.
- At this rate, the Dolphins will have a punt or two blocked down the stretch.
- He mishandled multiple punts, so veteran Troy Edwards will handle punt returns Week 1 in Pittsburgh.
- Happe also served as the Beaver's long snapper on punts and placekicks.
- Ibrahimovic collects the ball from a big punt up the park.
- He never makes a had snap and delivers the ball with great velocity on punts and place kicks.
Origin
Mid 19th century: probably from dialect punt 'push forcibly'. Compare with bunt1.
punt3
/pʌnt/- On the first series of downs they found themselves in a fourth-and-one situation and were forced to punt.
- But the latest alarm is sounding over growing evidence that small investors are using consumer credit to fund punting on soaring technology shares.
- But there are much saner and sounder reasons for punting on the Andre Fabre-trained colt in the greatest all-aged race in Europe.
- But there are still plenty of other ways to have some fun punting on the election result.
- These types of mortgages give the borrower the security of knowing their repayment will not change, but there is also a gamble because you are taking a punt on interest rates.
- Is it worth taking a punt on the share price staying high, Rambus doing well, and Hyundai raking it in?
- However, Chez Panisse is so popular that the place is always booked out for at least a month in advance and therefore anybody going is taking a punt on what they'll get.
Phrases
take (or have) a punt at
Origin
Early 18th century: from French ponte 'player against the bank', from Spanish punto 'a point'.
punt4
/pʊnt/- A computer or printer may be originally priced for the world market in dollars or sterling and translated into punts say, once every six months.
- Francs, Deutschmarks, guilders, punts, drachmas and pesetas will all have gone by the end of February.
Origin
Irish, literally 'pound'.