Bunt

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒnt

Origin

Full definition of bunt

Noun

1. The middle part, cavity, or belly of a sail; the part of a furled sail which is at the center of the yard.The bunt of the sail was green.
2. (baseball, softball) A ball that has been intentionally hit softly so as to be difficult to field, sometimes with a hands-spread batting stance or with a close-hand, choked-up hand position. No swinging action is involved.The bunt was fielded cleanly.
3. (baseball, softball) The act of buntingThe manager will likely call for a bunt here.
4. (aviation) The second half of an outside loop, from level flight to inverted flight.
5. A fungus (Ustilago foetida) affecting the ear of cereals, filling the grains with a foetid dust; pepperbrand.

Verb

1. (transitive, baseball) to intentionally hit softly with a hands-spread batting stanceJones bunted the ball.
2. (intransitive, baseball) to intentionally hit a ball softly with a hands-spread batting stanceJones bunted.
3. (intransitive, aviation) to perform (the second half of) an outside loop.We had heard that there was an elite group of three or four pilots in Jodhpur called the "Bunt Club", who had successfully bunted their aircraft - that is, carried out the second half of an outside loop. In the Bunt, you pushed the nose down, past the vertical and still further, until you were in horizontal inverted flight, and came out on the other side and rolled it out.
4. (intransitive, nautical) To swell out.The sail bunts.
5. (rare, of a cat) To headbutt affectionately.