puncher
(ˈpʌnʃə(r))
[f. punch v.1 + -er1.]
a. One who or that which punches, thumps, perforates, or stamps; an instrument for doing this.
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. v. i. 95 In the upper Jaw, five before; not Incisors, or Cutters, but thick Punchers. 1691 A. Haig in J. Russell Haigs xi. (1881) 332 When the chartour came to the Great Seall it cost to the Chauncellour 12 lib., and to the punschearis 4 lib., and to the keaper of the seall four rex-dollars. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. II. 250 He was a rival..who used puncheons for his graving, which Johnson never did, calling Simon a puncher, not a graver. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 96 The puncher, a steel instrument. 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 132 When a wire is kept going at its full speed two punchers, one adjuster or sender, and three writers, are employed. 1876 Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engineers V. 492 When one clerk considers a puncher quite workable, another declares it to be useless. 1880 Scribner's Mag. July 355 The very next puncher of our tickets. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 140/2 Puncher.—This instrument is used for beating or punching those articles which are too heavy to be taken in the hands and rubbed. 1904 Daily Chron. 16 Aug. 7/1 Palmer, a powerful ‘puncher’ of the over-tossed ball, made some splendid drives to the off. 1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier i. v. 73 Ready to lend you his cigar puncher. 1951 Sport 30 Mar.–5 Apr. 10/2 Both have reputations as punchers. a 1953 Dylan Thomas Quite Early One Morning (1954) 33 The clip of the chair-attendant's puncher. 1973 Irish Times 2 Mar. 3/3 They [sc. a hockey team] depend enormously on John Douglas to initiate their raids and have only one recognised ‘puncher’ in Tom Jenkinson. |
b. N. Amer. Short for cow-puncher: cf. punch v.1 2. Also attrib. in puncher-boy.
| 1870 Daily Territorial Enterprise (Virginia City, Nevada) 17 Aug. 3/1 All the time the punchers are flying from ox to ox, plying their sticks right and left. 1894 Harper's Mag. Feb. 355 In the handling of these savage animals the punchers are brave to recklessness. 1905 S. E. White Rawhide viii, The punchers in their daily rides gathered in the range ponies. 1910 in J. Lomax Cowboy Songs 96 But show me a man that sleeps more profound Than the big puncher-boy who stretches himself on the ground. 1912 S. A. White Wildcatters 137 Ben had decked him out in puncher's garb. The lariot was correctly coiled at the saddle-horn. 1972 T. A. Bulman Kamloops Cattlemen ii. 16 Tough as these old ‘punchers’ were, the years gradually took their toll. |