Punch, punsh, v.t. to prick or pierce with something sharp or blunt: to make a hole in with a steel tool.—n. a tool either blunt, or hollow and sharp-edged, for stamping or perforating: a kind of awl.—n. Punch′er. [A shortened form of puncheon, a tool.]
Punch, punsh, v.t. to strike or hit: to beat with the fist, as one's head.—n. a stroke or blow with the fist, elbow, &c. [Prob. a corr. of punish.]
Puncheon, punsh′un, n. a steel tool with a die or a sharp point at one end for stamping or perforating metal plates: a short post or slab of wood with the face smoothed. [O. Fr. poinson—L. punctio, -onis—pungĕre, punctum, to prick.]
Puncheon, punsh′un, n. a cask: a liquid measure of from 72 or 84 to 120 gallons. [O. Fr. poinson, a cask; perh. from the above.]
Punchinello, punsh-i-nel′o, n. the short, hump-backed figure of a puppet-show: a buffoon, any grotesque personage. [It. pulcinello, dim. of pulcino, a chicken, child—L. pullus, a young animal.]
Punctate, -d, pungk′tāt, -ed, adj. pointed: (bot.) punctured: full of small holes: pitted: dotted.—ns. Punctā′tion; Punctā′tor, one who marks with dots—esp. applied to the Massoretes who invented the Hebrew vowel-points.—adj. Punc′tiform, pointed. [L. punctum—pungĕre, punctum, to prick.]
Punctilio, pungk-til′yo, n. a nice point in behaviour or ceremony: nicety in forms: exact observance of forms.—adj. Punctil′ious, attending to little points or matters: very nice or exact in behaviour or ceremony: exact or punctual to excess.—adv. Punctil′iously.—ns. Punctil′iousness; Punc′to (Shak.), the point, or a blow with it in fencing: a nice point of ceremony. [Sp. puntillo, dim. of punto, point—L. punctum, a point.]
Punctual, pungk′tū-al, adj. of or pertaining to a point: observant of nice points: punctilious: exact in keeping time and appointments: done at the exact time.—ns. Punc′tualist; Punctual′ity, quality or state of being punctual: the keeping of the exact time of an appointment: exactness.—adv. Punc′tually.—n. Punc′tualness. [Fr. ponctuel—punctum, a point.]
Punctuate, pungk′tū-āt, v.t. to mark with points: to divide sentences by the usual points or marks: to emphasise.—adv. Punc′tuātim, point for point.—n. Punctuā′tion, the act or art of dividing sentences by points or marks.—adj. Punc′tuātive.—n. Punc′tuātor.—Punctuation marks, the comma, semicolon, colon, period, &c.
Punctum, pungk′tum, n. (anat.) a point, dot.—adjs. Punc′tūlate, -d.—ns. Punctūlā′tion; Punc′tūle; Punc′tūlum.—Punctum cæcum, the point of the retina from which the optic nerve fibres radiate, so called because impervious to light.