Punt

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pÊŒnt/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒnt

Old English, probably from Latin ponto ("Gaulish flat-bottomed boat, pontoon"), from pons ("bridge")

Full definition of punt

Noun

1. (nautical) A pontoon; a narrow shallow boat propelled by a pole.

Verb

1. (nautical) To propel a punt or similar craft by means of a pole.

Possibly a dialectal variant of bunt; Rugby is the origin of the sports usage of the term.

Verb

1. (rugby, American football, Australian Rules football, Gaelic football, soccer) to kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground. This puts the ball farther from the goal across which the opposing team is attempting to score, so improves the chances of the team punting.
• As a colloquialism, 'So I punted' means the speaker chose the best alternative among a menu of non-ideal choices.
2. (soccer) To kick a bouncing ball far and high.
• 2011, September 2, , Wales 2-1 Montenegro, With five minutes remaining Hennessey was down well to block another Vukcevic shot, while Gunter was smartly in to punt away the dangerous loose ball.
3. To retreat from one's objective.
• ca. 2002, Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick and C. Michael Pilato, Version Control with Subversion Chapter Basic Work Cycle, Punting: Using svn revert¶ If you decide that you want to throw out your changes and start your edits again (whether this occurs after a conflict or anytime), just revert your changes

Derived terms

• drop punt
• punt returner
• punter
• torpedo punt

Noun

1. (rugby, American football, soccer) A kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. Contrast drop kick.

From French ponte or Spanish punto ("point").

Noun

1. A point in the game of faro.
2. The act of playing at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
3. A bet or wager.
4. An indentation in the base of a wine bottle.
5. (glassblowing) A thin glass rod which is temporarily attached to a larger piece in order to better manipulate the larger piece.

Verb

1. (British, chiefly Ireland) To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally
• ThackerayShe heard ... of his punting at gaming tables.
• 2004, John Buglear, Quantitative methods for business: the A-Z of QM Chapter Is it worth the risk? – introducing probability, Whether you want to gamble on a horse race, bet on which player will score first in a game of football, have a punt on a particular tennis player winning a grand slam event, you are buying a chance, a chance which is measured in terms of probability, ‘the odds’.
• 2006, June 23, Dan Roebuck, Eriksson's men still worth a punt, Eriksson's men still worth a punt
• 2009, November 3, Sarah Collerton, Cup punt not child's play, Australians have a reputation for being keen to bet on two flies climbing up a wall and today young ones often take a casual classroom punt
2. (figuratively) To make a highly speculative investment or other commitment, or take a wild guess.

Related terms

• punter

From Irish punt, from Middle English pund.

Noun

1. The Irish pound, used as the unit of currency of Ireland until it was replaced by the euro in 2002.----