punt

punt¹ flat-bottomed boat

Etymology

The boat is inherited from Old English punt,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin pontō (“flat-bottomed boat, ferry, punt”),^{[3][6][4][7][8]} a kind of Gaulish transport boat in Caesar and also a floating bridge,^[9][10] from pōns (“bridge”),^[6][9][1] from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to tread, go”).^[6][9] The word is not recorded in Middle English, and it reappears about 1500 in East Anglia, first in the compound “punt-boat”;^{[3][4][11][12]} the OED thinks it may have been only a local word in country flat enough for such shallow craft.^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline take the later word as a survival of the Old English one,^[4][9] while the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English, Hoad and Weekley see a fresh borrowing from Middle Low German punte or Middle Dutch ponte (“ferry boat”), words of the same Latin origin;^{[13][14][11][12][1]} the OED compares the Middle Dutch and Middle Low German words and modern pont.^[3] Etymonline also allows the influence of Old French pont (“large flat boat”).^[9] It is related to pontoon.^[6][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flat-bottomed boat: Old English punt glosses Latin pontonium and other words for a boat in the Old English glossaries,^[2][3] which Barnhart dates to about 1000.^[4]

Semantic evolution

On its return about 1500 the word meant a shallow, flat-bottomed boat, square at both ends;^[3][9] its use for the long narrow kind pushed with a pole against the river bed is now the main one.^[3][15] Barnhart records pontebot, punt boat, in 1500 and punt on its own from 1568.^[4] The verb, to move a boat by pushing a pole against the bottom, is recorded from 1759 in the OED and Merriam-Webster^[3][15] but only from 1816 in Etymonline and Barnhart.^[9][4] It was used intransitively from 1776 and for carrying people or goods in a punt from 1818.^[3] In British and Australian colloquial use, police slang from 1970 had punt or punt around for patrolling, later for driving about aimlessly, though the OED is not certain that this is the same word.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English punt, a flat-bottomed boat.^[4][3]
• 1500 – pontebot, punt boat.^[4][9]
• 1568 – punt alone again.^[4]
• 1759 – verb, to propel a boat with a pole.^[3][15]
• 1776 – verb, intransitive, to punt.^[3]
• 1818 – verb, to carry in a punt.^[3]
• 1897 – noun, a push with a punt pole.^[3]
• 1970 – police slang, to patrol, later to drive about aimlessly.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, narrow, flat-bottomed boat with square ends, pushed along with a pole against the river bed.^{[8][15][16][3]}
2. Any flat-bottomed boat, especially a broad one.^[15][3]

Verb

1. To move a punt or other boat by pushing a pole against the bottom of the water: They punted slowly up the river.^{[8][15][16][3]}
2. To carry people or goods in a punt.^[15][16][3]
3. To travel in a punt.^[16][3]

Word family

• puntsman

punt² bet

Etymology

The verb meaning to bet is borrowed from French ponter (“to lay a stake against the bank”),^{[3][6][15][8][10][13][12]} although the OED notes that the French verb is first recorded slightly later, in 1718.^[3] Its origin is disputed.^[3][6][15] The OED and the American Heritage Dictionary take the French verb from an obsolete past participle, “pont”, of pondre (“to put; to lay an egg”), from Latin pōnō (“to put, place”).^[3][6] Most other dictionaries derive it from ponte (“a stake laid against the banker”), from Spanish punto (“point”), from Latin punctum (“point”), the source of point.^{[15][8][10][17][12][18]} The noun punt, one who plays against the bank, is probably from the French ponte in that sense (1703); its sense "a point at faro" is probably from a similar use of the Spanish punto, which Spanish dictionaries do not record.^[3] The noun meaning a bet (1965) is formed from the verb.^[3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A player who bets against the bank in a card game: 1704, in Thomas D'Urfey's Hell beyond Hell;^[3][19] the verb, to lay a stake against the bank, follows in 1712, in Addison's Spectator.^[3][15]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged at first to fashionable gambling at cards, basset, ombre, faro and later baccarat: Johnson (1755) defined it as "to play at basset and ombre".^[20][3] From 1887 it was used more generally of betting, especially on horses, or of speculating;^[3][13] Collins marks this use as chiefly British.^[8] In faro, punt also meant a point from 1793 to about 1850.^[3] The noun meaning a bet, a gamble, is recorded from 1890 in Green's Dictionary of Slang;^[19] the OED has it from 1965, in Australian English, especially in take a punt;^[3] the Australian and New Zealand take a punt at means to have a try at something.^[8][13] The agent noun punter, a gambler and later a customer, is better known than the verb.^[10]

Timeline

• 1704 – noun, a player against the bank.^[3][19]
• 1712 – verb, to lay a stake against the bank.^[3][15]
• 1755 – Johnson: to play at basset and ombre.^[20]
• 1793 – a point at faro (obsolete by 1850).^[3]
• 1887 – to bet, especially on horses.^[3]
• 1890 – noun, a bet.^[19]
• 1965 – take a punt, in Australian English.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (chiefly British) To gamble or bet, especially on horses: She punted fifty pounds on the favourite.^[8][15][3]
2. In card games such as faro and baccarat, to bet against the bank.^[15][16][3]

Noun

1. A bet or gamble.^[8][3][13]
2. take a punt (at): in Australia and New Zealand, to take a chance, or to have a try at something.^[8][13]
3. A player who bets against the bank; a punter.^[3][15][8]
4. (obsolete, 1793–1850) A point in faro and similar games.^[3][15]

Word family

• punter

punt³ kick

Etymology

The kick is of unknown origin.^[3][15][17] It is first recorded in 1845, in the football rules of Rugby School, as both verb and noun.^{[3][9][4][21]} The OED compares bunt, to push or butt.^[3] Many dictionaries suggest the dialect verb punt, to push or strike, recorded in Northamptonshire for pushing with force, helping someone up with a push, and a calf butting with its head;^{[3][22][6][4][9][21][14]} they take it as a variant or alteration of bunt.^{[6][4][9][13][8]} Bunt itself may be a nasalized form of butt,^[8][10][12] or perhaps echoic,^[9] and Ayto mentions a possible Celtic source related to Breton bounta (“to butt”).^[10] Dictionary.com suggests instead that the kick comes from the boat sense, "to propel by shoving".^[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

A kick of the ball dropped from the hands before it reaches the ground, and to kick a ball so: 1845, in the football rules of Rugby School, about twenty years after the game began there, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins.^{[3][9][4][21]}

Semantic evolution

From rugby the kick passed to American football and other games,^[3] and the intransitive use is recorded from 1884;^[3] and one could punt a goal from 1916.^[3] From 1886 it was also used of hitting or knocking anything with the foot, the hand or a bat.^[3] Colloquial senses followed in the 20th century: in American use punt around, to discuss an idea (1945); in Britain, to push or tout something for sale (1962).^[3] Because an American football team punts the ball away when it cannot advance, punt came to mean to give up or back out, to defer or pass on a responsibility, from 1966;^[3][19][9] in American campus slang it meant to give up one's work or drop a course rather than fail it.^[19][9]

Timeline

• 1845 – verb and noun, in the football rules of Rugby School.^[3][9][4]
• 1854 – noun, an upward push, a lift (Northamptonshire).^[3][22]
• 1884 – verb, intransitive, to make a punt.^[3]
• 1886 – to hit or knock.^[3]
• 1916 – to score a goal by punting.^[3]
• 1945 – punt around, to discuss an idea.^[3]
• 1962 – British, to tout something.^[3]
• 1966 – North American, to give up, to put off.^[3]
• 1967 – American campus slang, to give up one's studies.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. To kick a ball after dropping it from the hands and before it touches the ground, as in rugby and American football.^{[8][15][16][3]}
2. To make such a kick.^[15][16][3]
3. (North American, informal) To give up or back out of something, or to put off a decision: The committee punted on the budget until spring.^[3][19]

Noun

1. A kick given to a ball dropped from the hands before it reaches the ground.^{[8][15][16][3]}
2. Any long, high kick.^[8]
3. In American football, such a kick on fourth down, giving up possession to gain ground.^[15]

punt⁴ Irish pound

Etymology

The currency word is borrowed from Irish punt (“pound”),^{[3][15][13][18][8][14]} which the OED records as a monetary unit in Irish from the 15th century, and which is itself from the English pound.^[3][15][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

The main monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland: 1975 in the OED, in the Irish Times,^[3] and in Merriam-Webster;^[15][23] Dictionary.com dates it to 1970–75.^[18]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the Irish pound was decimalized in 1971.^[3] It ceased to be the national currency when Ireland adopted the euro, in January 1999 according to the OED^[3] and in 2002 according to the Shorter Oxford.^[13]

Timeline

• 1975 – the Irish pound, in English.^[3][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The former basic monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland, divided into 100 pence and replaced by the euro; the Irish pound.^[3][13][15]