punt
/pʌnt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.48 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
verb
To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
verb
To equivocate and delay or put off (answering a question, addressing an issue, etc).
Colloquial; Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: pontoon"
- "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."
- "He even hated pets—I once saw him punt a cat."
- "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."
- "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, ..."
- "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."
Etymology
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.
Origin
- Source language: Old English