I. punt 1 /pʌnt/ BrE AmE noun
[ Sense 1-2: Date: 1000-1100 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: ponto ; ⇨ ↑ pontoon ]
[ Sense 3: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ punt 2 (1) ]
[ Sense 4: Date: 1900-2000 ; Language: Irish ]
1 . BOAT [countable] a long thin boat with a flat bottom that you move by pushing a long pole against the bottom of the river
2 . a punt the activity of travelling in a punt:
a punt down the river
3 . KICK [countable usually singular] in ↑ rugby or American football, the action of kicking the ball after dropping it from your hands:
a 45-yard punt
4 . MONEY [countable] the standard unit of money used in the Republic of Ireland before the ↑ Euro
• • •
THESAURUS
■ types of boat
▪ yacht a large boat with a sail, used for pleasure or sport
▪ sailing boat British English , sailboat American English a boat that uses one or more sails
▪ rowing boat British English , rowboat American English a small boat that you move through the water with oars
▪ dinghy a small open boat used for pleasure, or for taking people between a ship and the shore
▪ catamaran a sailing boat with two separate ↑ hull s (=the part that goes in the water)
▪ trimaran a sailing boat with three separate HULLS s
▪ barge a large low boat with a flat bottom, used for carrying heavy goods on a canal or river
▪ canal boat ( also narrow boat British English ) a boat that you use on canals
▪ canoe a long light boat that is open at the top and pointed at both ends, which you move along using a ↑ paddle . Canoes are for one to three people
▪ kayak a light boat for one or two people, that is pointed at both ends and covered on top. A kayak has round holes on top in which the people sit, and you move it along using a paddle.
▪ punt a long thin boat with a flat bottom that you move by pushing a long pole against the bottom of the river – used for pleasure
▪ houseboat a boat that is specially made so that you can live on it
▪ pleasure boat a small boat, for example a sailing boat or a rowing boat, that people use on a lake, river etc:
People were out on the lake in pleasure boats.
⇨ ↑ ship
II. punt 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Sense 1: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ punt 1 (2) ]
[ Sense 2: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: Perhaps from punt 'to hit, push' (1800-1900) . ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] to go on a river in a punt
punt along/down/past etc
Pete punted us back to the boatyard.
2 . [transitive]
a) in ↑ rugby or American football, to drop the ball from your hands and kick it:
He punted the ball 40 yards.
b) to kick a ball hard so that it goes a long way