▪ I. punter1
(ˈpʌntə(r))
[f. punt v.1 + -er1.]
1. A player who ‘punts’ or plays against the bank at certain card-games: see punt v.1
| 1706 Phillips (ed. 6), Punter, a Term us'd at the Game of Cards call'd Basset. 1781 G. Selwyn Diary 22 June, I..called in at Brooks's... Hare in the chair: the General chief Punter, who lost a 1000. 1850 Bohn's Handbk. Games (Faro) 335 The banker turns up the cards... The punter may at his option set any number of stakes..upon one or more cards chosen out of his livret [a suit of 13 cards, with four others called Figures]. 1891 Hoffmann Baccarat 13 The player on his [the croupier's] right, who for the time being is dealer, or ‘banker’. The other players are punters. |
2. transf. A small professional backer of horses. Also, one who gambles in stocks and shares, or on football pools.
| 1873 in Slang Dict. 1884 Graphic 15 Nov. 507/2 Many ‘punters’ anxious to retrieve past losses. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 20 Feb. 6/1 The punter, having no longer the company's daily traffic returns..to play with. 1903 M{supc}Neill Egregious English 185 Round it there has grown up a specious and parasitical finance which is rapidly transforming the English into a nation of punters. 1951 Sport 16–22 Mar. 22/2, I know of many punters who have decided to follow one system and then after a short losing spell switched to another system. 1976 West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 8 Dec. 1/7 A Great Eccleston punter has scooped {pstlg}26,082 on the pools. |
3. slang. A name for a member of various classes of criminal, esp. one who assists in the commission of a crime (see quots.).
| 1891 Answers 4 Apr. 338/1 Having filled the premises with pictures,..the auctioneer engages the assistance of what are known in the business as ‘punters’. The ‘punter’.. is the auctioneer's confederate, and it is his duty..to make sham bids. Ibid. 338/3 In addition to bidding, a ‘punter’ will often assist the auctioneer in cajoling the public. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 52 We have also acquired [this century] some underworld slang of our own:..punter, an assistant of a pickpocket who diverts the victim's attention while robbery is committed. 1973 ‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed iii. 28 ‘Punter’ was ‘a normal man where you live who never gets caught’, to whom you took stolen goods and traded them in for guns, ‘blades’, or money. Ibid. 29 They were the people who sold bottles of wine at extortionate prices on Sundays... The word was also generalized to mean a member of a ‘team’ or gang, as in the much used phrase ‘Ya Cumbie punter’. |
4. slang. The victim of a swindler or confidence trickster.
| 1934 P. Allingham Cheapjack xv. 187 But when the grafter decides that it is time for him to get the punter's money, he leans casually against the stall. Ibid. 320 Punter, a grafter's customer, client or victim. 1962 [see kite n. 4 c]. 1974 G. F. Newman Price viii. 253 They were three card tricksters. Their patter never changed, but still punters stood for it. |
5. colloq. A customer or client; a member of an audience or spectator; spec., the client of a prostitute.
In some contexts almost synonymous with person (but depreciatory).
| 1965 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 24 Oct. 66/3 There is plenty of irrational judgement about..but like all free⁓market operators, the traders have to concentrate it on people—on each other and on the ‘punters’ (dealer buyers). 1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Architecture iii. 60 Described by veteran showmen as ‘a good oncer’—that is, a ride the punters would normally go on once—and once only—this must have been the least successful of his inventions. 1969 Jeremy I. iii. 22/2 Punter, client. 1970 Sunday Times 15 Mar. 60/5, I [sc. a prostitute] always make the punter wear a rubber. 1975 Ibid. (Colour Suppl.) 23 Feb. 25/2 There's nuthin' but deid punters walkin' up and doon, wi' their beds under their airms. 1975 Times 20 Sept. 2/7 Their clients were known as ‘punters’ and the youths as ‘rent boys’. Some boys, once corrupted, became male prostitutes. 1976 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 28 Nov. 12 (caption) Ya eejit! Ah'm talkin' aboot thae punters inra Housa Lords..yir upper-crust. 1977 Record Mirror 7 May 17/2 The punters were well pleased. Some people even..said they preferred my sound, as far as I was concerned I played crap that night. 1977 Drive Sept.–Oct. 112/1 The more confused you are, the more likely you are to accept his offer. Because you are the punter. 1978 Observer 12 Feb. 3/5 Irene, a 19-year-old prostitute, was giving the glad eye to prospecting punters on the side streets of Chapeltown, Leeds. 1980 Ibid. 6 Apr. 33/3 Some of the punters [contextually pilgrims to Lourdes] were elderly and they were all tired. |
▪ II. ˈpunter2
[f. punt v.2 + -er1.]
In earlier use, one who goes fishing or shooting in a punt; often = punt-gunner; later, one who punts or manages a punt.
| 1814 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 91 All over Poole harbour..according to report of punters..the same..scarcity prevailed. 1886 Walsingham & Gallwey Shooting (Badm. Libr.) II. 243 The wildfowl shooter who uses a punt and swivel-gun is known as a ‘punter’ or ‘puntsman’. 1906 Daily News 16 Sept. 6 Pangbourne, the sylvan haunt of the Thames angler, the summer retreat of the Saturday-to-Monday punter. |
▪ III. ˈpunter3
[f. punt v.3 + -er1.]
In various forms of football, one who punts (cf. punt v.3 1 a).
| 1890 in Webster. 1910 W. Camp Bk. of Foot-Ball viii. 314 Accuracy should be an aim of the punter as much as distance. 1956 V. Jenkins Lions Rampant iv. 58 Thus.., an enormous punter as well as goal-kicker, sent them back..yards at a time. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 31/7 Hamilton Tiger-Cats have signed University of Toronto punter and halfback Paul McKay. 1977 New Yorker 3 Oct. 111/1 Curry, up to now a demon punter, could not average better than twenty-nine yards a kick. |