subs. (old).—1. See quots. 1669 and 1870: hence, PUNCHY = fat-bellied: cf. PAUNCH.—B. E. (c. 1696). PUNCHINESS = stoutness of build.
1669. PEPYS, Diary, 30 April. I … did hear them call their fat child PUNCH, which pleased me mighty, that word being become a word of common use for all that is thick and short.
1707. WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, II. iv. 24. Two PUNCHES next, with wond’rous Vigour, Perform’d a Dance in double Figure.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Mrs. Botherby’s Story,’ I. 119. A stout Suffolk ‘PUNCH.’ Ibid. (Aunt Fanny), II. 124. A fat, little, PUNCHY concern of sixteen.
1850. L. HUNT, Autobiography, iii. A short, stout man, inclining to PUNCHINESS.
1870. Farrier’s Dictionary [Encyclopædic Dictionary]. “PUNCH is a horse that is well-set and well-knit, having a short back and thin shoulders, with a broad neck, and well lined with flesh.”
2. (colloquial).—A blow; also as verb.: e.g., ‘to PUNCH one’s head.’
1603. CHAPMAN, Iliad, vi. 126. With a goad he PUNCH’D each furious dame.
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, ii. Smart chap that cabman … but … PUNCH HIS HEAD.
Verb. (venery).—1. To deflower: hence PUNCHABLE = ripe for man, COMING (q.v.).—GROSE (1785).
2. (Western American).—To drive and brand cattle. Whence PUNCHER (BULL or COW-PUNCHER) = a cowboy.
1887. F. FRANCIS, Jun., Saddle and Moccasin, viii. 149. [A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant]. The title ‘cow servants,’ so delighted the gentle ‘PUNCHER,’ by the way, that it has become a standing quotation in New Mexico.
18[?]. H. KENDALL, Billy Vickers.
| At PUNCHING oxen you may guess | |
| There’s nothing out can ‘camp’ him: | |
| He has, in fact, the slouch and dress | |
| Which bullock-driver stamp him. |
3. (old).—To walk: see ABSQUATULATE.—GROSE (1785). Hence TO PUNCH OUTSIDES = to go out of doors.—GROSE (1785); HAGGART (1821).
1780. R. TOMLINSON, A Slang Pastoral, st. vii. Now she to Bridewell has PUNCH’D it along.
COBBLER’S-PUNCH, subs. phr. (old).—‘Urine with a cinder in it.’—GROSE (1785).
