punch

noun

1. (countable)A hit or strike with one's fist.

   “Another Karadeniz cross led to Cudicini's first save of the night, with the Spurs keeper making up for a weak punch by brilliantly pushing away Christian Noboa's snap-shot.”

2. (countable, rare)A blow from something other than the fist.

   “For in Tashbaan there is only one traffic regulation, which is that everyone who is less important has to get out of the way for everyone who is more important; unless you want a cut from a whip or a punch from the butt end of a spear.”

3. (uncountable)Power, strength, energy.

   “The tornado is finally losing its punch.”

   “Nixon inadvertently took most of the punch out of the Red Scare by trekking to Peking and Moscow.”

   “The theorizing often lacks punch and tightness, and that is because Kleinberg is unresolved about how to think about the facts, unsure which are the relevant facts, unsure that thinking itself will be liberating for him.”

4. (uncountable)Impact.
5. (countable)A device, generally slender and round, used for creating holes in thin material, for driving an object through a hole in a containing object, or to stamp or emboss a mark or design on a surface.
6. (countable)A device, generally slender and round, used for creating holes in thin material, for driving an object through a hole in a containing object, or to stamp or emboss a mark or design on a surface.
7. (countable)A hole or opening created with a punch.
8. An extension piece applied to the top of a pile; a dolly.
9. A prop, as for the roof of a mine.
10. (uncountable, usually)A beverage, generally containing a mixture of fruit juice and some other beverage, often alcoholic.
11. Any of various riodinid butterflies of the genus Dodona of Asia.
12. (archaic, regional)A short fat person.

    “Here I did make the workmen drink, and saw my coach cleaned and oyled; and, staying among poor people there in the alley, did hear them call their fat child Punch, which pleased me mightily, that word being become a word of common use for all that is thick and short.”

    “The company at the maſquerade on May 13, at the Pantheon, was not ſo numerous as uſual. However, there were ſome very good dreſſes, and the characters well ſupported; in particular a punch, who afforded great entertainment.”

    “He rides a low poney when on parade and his dress being of the fassion some forty years ago, he has a drole appearance. He has acquired the cognomen of “Punch on a Pig.””

    “Now the effigies makes Robert to have been a juvenile figure of the best height, 5 f. 10 inch.; taller or shorter men being generally ill-made, knock-kneed, or Punches.”

verb

1. (transitive)To strike with one's fist.

   “If she punches me, I'm gonna break her nose.”

2. (transitive)To herd.
3. (transitive)To operate (a device or system) by depressing a button, key, bar, or pedal, or by similar means.

   “As night watchman he was required to punch a watchman's clock; the stations were scattered all over the place.”

   “The patrol clock and punch key system made sure that crewmen completed their patrols. At the far end of his patrol, he used a key to punch his clock and start the return trip.”

   “Another shipmate remembered the watch clock on the strap we had to carry to punching stations. He was assigned to a guard shack. He had rounds to the Officer's Club and sleeping quarters where he'd have to punch the clock at different stations.”

4. (transitive)To enter (information) on a device or system.
5. (transitive)To hit (a ball or similar object) with less than full force.

   “He punched a hit into shallow left field.”

6. (transitive)To make holes in something (rail ticket, leather belt, etc) (see also the verb under Etymology 2).

   “So I punched a hole in the roof, ah-ah, ah-ah Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you”

7. To thrust against; to poke.

   “to punch one with the end of a stick or the elbow”

8. (UK, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, intransitive, slang)Ellipsis of punch above one's weight, especially, to date somebody more attractive than oneself.
9. (transitive)To perform pigeage: to stamp down grape skins that float to the surface during fermentation.
10. (transitive)To emphasize; to give emphasis to.

    “Getting a little tired of you punching that word.”

11. (Australia, New-Zealand, slang)To light marijuana in a bong.

    “We're gonna punch a few cones.”

12. To employ a punch to create a hole in or stamp or emboss a mark on something.
13. To mark a ticket.

    “The guard performs athletic feats in jumping from coach to coach while the train is in motion, taking orders for tickets, punching them on a bell punch in his van, and then returning to distribute them to passengers.”

adj

1. (Northern-England, Scotland, archaic)Short and thickset.

   “Taken away from two Grooms on Monday the 16th inſtant, in the great Road that leads to Epping from London in Epping-Foreſt, a little gray punch Stoned Horſe, hath all his paces, thorn mane, bob tailed, marked with I. S. on the near ſhoulder, about 14 hands.”

   “They are generally very much prejudiced in favour of their own Race, whoſe Beauty they think conſiſts in having little Eyes ſunk deep in the Head, black thick Brows, a large flat Noſe and Face, and a ſhort punch Shape, eſpecially for the Women; […]”

   “The sexton and his companion had been employed as carpenters on the preparations for the celebrated Stratford Jubilee; and they remembered Garrick, the prime mover of the fête, who superintended the arrangements; and who, according to the sexton, was “a short punch man, very lively and bustling.””