punt
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /pʌnt/
rhymes: -ʌnt
rhymes: -ʌnt
ipa: /pʌnt/
rhymes: -ʌnt
Forms: form: punts
form: punting
form: punted
form: punted
Etymology: Possibly a dialectal variant of bunt. Rugby is the origin of the sports usage of the term.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1975, Barry Targan, Harry Belten and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, page 133:
text: He even hated pets—I once saw him punt a cat.
ref: 2019, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, We Cast a Shadow, One World, →ISBN, page 100:
glosses: To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rugby
soccer
sports
glosses: To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
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.)
qualifier: Australian rules football; Gaelic football; Australian rules football; Gaelic football
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
To kick a bouncing ball far and high.
examples: text: 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, ...
ref: 2014, John Prados, The Family Jewels: The CIA, Secrecy, and Presidential Power, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 91:
text: The federal government has punted bringing forward extraordinary immigration powers that just weeks ago it was saying were so urgent they needed to be rushed through the parliament.
ref: 2024 May 16, Brett Worthington, “Labor delays bid for extraordinary immigration powers despite claims of urgency”, in ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
glosses: To equivocate and delay or put off (answering a question, addressing an issue, etc).
examples: text: 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
ref: ca. 2002, Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, C. Michael Pilato, “Basic Work Cycle”, in Version Control with Subversion:
glosses: To retreat from one's objective; to abandon an effort one still notionally supports.
glosses: To make the best choice from a set of non-ideal alternatives.
examples: text: The user is punted from the channel, and must rejoin to gain access.
ref: 2001, Roger A. Grimes, Malicious Mobile Code: Virus Protection for Windows, page 236:
text: If you want to join this riot, we urge you to! You wont have to worry about being TOSed or reported because there will be no Guides online! So do whatever you want—punt, scroll, tos, just turn AOL into a war zone!
ref: 2003, Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of High-tech Crime and Crime-fighting, AOL Riot on June 1, 1998, page 21:
glosses: To eject; to kick out of a place.
Derived terms: cunt-punt
drop punt
punter
punt into the long grass