punt
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punt¹
- /pʌnt/
- /pʊnt/ Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌnt
Where it comes from
From Old English punt, from Latin pontō (“Gaulish flat-bottomed boat, pontoon”), from pons (“bridge”); readopted from Middle Low German punte (“ferry boat”) or Middle Dutch ponte (“ferry boat”) of the same origin.
noun punts
- A narrow shallow boat, square at both ends, traditionally propelled by a pole. Near-synonym: pontoon
verb punts · punting · punted
- To propel a punt or similar craft by means of a pole.
- Of a fish, to walk along the seafloor using its fins as limbs.
punt²
- /pʌnt/
Rhymes with -ʌnt
Where it comes from
Possibly a dialectal variant of bunt. Rugby is the origin of the sports usage of the term.
verb punts · punting · punted
- To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance. At the dump he emptied the station wagon quickly and only once punted a bag of refuse, exploding it like a pinata at a Mexican Christmas.
- 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.)
- To kick a bouncing ball far and high. 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.
- To equivocate and delay or put off (answering a question, addressing an issue, etc). The briefer reported it had been terminated on orders from Secretary Schlesinger, but attributed this to a sense Shamrock produced little, not to the fact it had been discovered. The NSA briefer punted on whether Fort Meade had been reading Americans' private messages, ...
- To retreat from one's objective; to abandon an effort one still notionally supports. 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
- To make the best choice from a set of non-ideal alternatives.
- To eject; to kick out of a place. The user is punted from the channel, and must rejoin to gain access.
noun punts
- A kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground.
punt³
- /pʌnt/
Rhymes with -ʌnt
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French pointe or Spanish punto (“point”). Doublet of point, pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, and punto.
noun punts
- A point in the game of faro.
- The act of playing basset, baccarat, faro, etc.
- A bet or wager. Anyone up for a punt on Randwick?
- Gambling, as a pastime, especially betting on horseraces or the dogs. Did I actually back a winner and finish in front on the punt?
- A highly speculative investment or other commitment. “Months ago, copper traders worldwide took a punt that Trump's tariff pitch for their market was real, not bluster.[…]”
-
A wild guess.
Similar: stab
- The indentation in the base of a wine bottle.
- A thin glass rod which is temporarily attached to a larger piece in order to better manipulate the larger piece.
verb punts · punting · punted
- To play basset, baccara, faro, etc. Here it was that, guarded by double doors, Sir Francis smoked cigars, and read Bell’s Life in London, and went to sleep after dinner, when he was not smoking over the billiard-table at his clubs, or punting at the gambling-houses in Saint James’s.
- To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally She heard […] of his punting at gaming tables.
- To make a highly speculative investment or other commitment, or take a wild guess.
punt⁴
- /pʊnt/
Rhymes with -ʊnt
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Irish punt, from Middle English pund. Doublet of funt, pfund, pood, and pound.
noun punts
- The Irish pound, used as the unit of currency of Ireland until it was replaced by the euro in 2002.
Punt⁵
Where it comes from
From Egyptian p-wn:n-t:N25 (pwnt).
proper noun
- A former kingdom in the Horn of Africa, Africa, on the southern shore of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. A country contemporaneous with the Old Kingdom of Egypt, where frankincense, gold, ebony, ivory is found.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: pole, stake, pound, back, gage, game, bet on, irish pound, gunning, evolution, issue, boot, vent, matter, clearing, locate
Translations
Every language
noun narrow shallow boat propelled by a pole
| Español | batea |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Stocherkahn |
| Italiano | barchino |
| Русский | плоскодонка ploskodonka |
| עברית | פּוּנְטִית puntit |
verb to kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground
| Español | patear al vuelo, volear podalmente |
|---|
noun a kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground
| Español | patada al vuelo, voleo podal, volea podal |
|---|
noun point in the game of faro
| Italiano | puntata |
|---|
noun indentation in the base of a wine bottle
| Español | picada |
|---|---|
| Italiano | indentazione |
verb to gamble
| Italiano | puntare, scommettere |
|---|---|
| Русский | ставить stavitʹ, рисковать riskovatʹ |
verb make a highly speculative investment or other commitment
| Español | especular |
|---|
Talk about this word "punt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/punt. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. punt. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/punt "punt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/punt.Cite this
@misc{punt_2026,
title = {punt},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/punt},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
