punch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pʌntʃ/^[1]

punch¹ hit; tool

Etymology

The verb is Middle English punchen, borrowed from Old French ponchonner (“to punch, prick, stamp”), poinçonner,^[2][3][4] from ponchon, poinçon “pointed tool, piercing weapon”,^[2][3] from Vulgar Latin *punctiō, from the past participle stem of pungere (“to prick, pierce, sting”),^[2][3] from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *peuk- (“to prick”).^[3] The tool is short for puncheon.^[3][4][5] The word thus goes back to the same source as point and poignant.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To poke or prod: about 1384, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

To pierce or emboss with a tool is from the early 15th century, 1423 in Barnhart,^[3][2] and to stab from 1440.^[2][3] The tool for piercing or stamping is from the late 14th century in Etymonline and 1505 in the OED,^[3][7] and a machine for stamping a die from the 1620s.^[3] To hit with the fist is first in Palsgrave in 1530;^[2][3] Etymonline compares Latin pugnāre “to fight with fists”, and suggests influence from punish, spelled punch in 14th–15th-century documents.^[3] The noun, a blow with the fist, is by the 1570s, 1580 in the OED,^[3][7] and figuratively forceful quality from 1911.^[3][7] The punch line (1915) was first a term of popular songwriting, and beat someone to the punch and punch-drunk are from 1915.^[3] To punch cattle, drive them, is a Western American sense,^[8][9] and to punch someone out is from 1971.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – to prod.^[2]
• 1423 – to pierce or stamp.^[2]
• 1530 – to hit with the fist.^[2]
• 1570s – a blow with the fist.^[3]
• 1911 – forceful quality.^[3][7]
• 1915 – punch line; punch-drunk.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To hit someone or something hard with the fist.
2. To make a hole in something with a punch.
3. To press a key or button: punch in the number.
4. (US) To herd cattle.

Noun

1. A blow with the fist.
2. Force or effectiveness: the speech lacked punch.
3. A tool or machine for making holes or stamping a design.

punch² drink

Etymology

The drink is commonly said to be from पाँच (pā̃c, “five”), from Sanskrit पञ्च (pañca, “five”) (see five), for its five ingredients: spirits, water, citrus juice, sugar and spice.^{[3][4][10][6]} The explanation goes back to John Fryer's account of India (1698),^[3][2] but Barnhart and Etymonline note problems: no such drink is known in India before the English word, the early English vowel was the u of put, and the word was in use before the English traded regularly in India.^[2][3] Hoad gives it as of unknown origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

1600 in MWU and Word Origins, by 1600 in Etymonline;^[4][6][3] 1632 in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Distilled spirits became common in England only in the 17th century, when punch also became popular;^[3] by the 1650s it was called “an Indian drink”, but 17th-century sources link it as often with the West Indies.^[3] Non-alcoholic fruit punch is a later use.^[9][8]

Timeline

• 1600 – punch, the drink.^[4][3]
• 1650s – “an Indian drink”.^[3]
• 1698 – Fryer's “five” explanation.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A drink made of fruit juices mixed with wine or spirits, often hot and spiced, or without alcohol.

Related words

• puncheon
• pungent
• point
• poignant
• punctuate
• Punchinello
• five

Usage notes

Punch, the hook-nosed puppet of Punch and Judy, is short for Punchinello (1666), from Neapolitan Pollecenella, perhaps a diminutive of pollecena “turkey pullet”, from his big nose.^[3][2][5] Pleased as Punch is from 1813, and the London comic weekly Punch was founded in 1841.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press