punt

Meanings

Noun

• A pontoon; a narrow shallow boat propelled by a pole.
• A kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground.
• A point in the game of faro.
• The act of playing at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
• A bet or wager.
• Gambling, as a pastime, especially betting on horseraces or the dogs. E.g anyone up for a punt on Randwick?
• A highly speculative investment or other commitment.
• A wild guess.
• An 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.
• The Irish pound, used as the unit of currency of Ireland until it was replaced by the euro in 2002.

Verb

• 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.
• To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
• To equivocate and delay or put off (answering a question, addressing an issue, etc).
• To retreat from one's objective; to abandon an effort one still notionally supports.
• To make the best choice from a set of non-ideal alternatives.
• To eject; to kick out of a place.
• To play at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
• To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally
• To make a highly speculative investment or other commitment, or take a wild guess.

Origin

• From Old English, from Latin pontō ("Gaulish flat-bottomed boat, pontoon"), from pons; readopted from Middle Low German punte ("ferry boat") or Middle Dutch ponte ("ferry boat") of the same origin.
• Possibly a dialectal variant of bunt. Rugby is the origin of the sports usage of the term.
• Borrowed from French pointe or Spanish punto. point.
• Borrowed from Irish punt, from Middle English pund.