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PUNT (from Lat. ponto, pontoon; conne...

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 657 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PUNT (from See also:Lat. ponto, See also:pontoon; connected with pons, See also:bridge)  , a See also:flat-bottomed See also:boat, used for shallow See also:waters, and propelled by a See also:pole, by paddles, or occasionally by sails . Formerly the word was applied to many such flat boats used for ferries, See also:barges, lighters, &c., but it is now generally confined to a See also:light flat boat very See also:long in proportion to its width, with square ends, both at See also:stem and See also:bow, slightly narrowing from the centre, and propelled by pushing against the bottom of the See also:river or other See also:water by a long pole . Such boats are much used for See also:sport or See also:pleasure on See also:rivers with shallow and hard gravelly beds; a small See also:punt with a mounted See also:duck See also:gun and propelled by paddles or See also:short oars is used for See also:wild-fowling . A professional puntingchampionship of See also:England was instituted in 1876, and an See also:amateur championship in 1886 . Etymologically considered, " punt " certainly was adapted from panto, a word used by See also:Caesar (See also:Bell. civ. p. iii . 22) of a light See also:vessel for transport in See also:Gaul . Later (as by Gallius and See also:Ausonius) it was also applied to a floating-raft used as a See also:bridge, a See also:pontoon, and so connected with pons, bridge . There are two other words which must be distinguished from the above . One means, in See also:Rugby See also:football, to catch the See also:ball in the hands, drop and kick it before it reaches the ground, as distinguished from a " drop-kick," where the kick is given See also:half-volley, as it reaches the ground . This word is probably cognate with " bunt," a See also:dialect word meaning to push, and both represent nasalized forms of the onomatopoeic " put " or . " but." The second, in the substantive " punter," used in the See also:general sense of a gambler or better, originally referred to one who at card See also:games such as See also:basset, See also:baccarat, &c., stakes against the See also:bank . Both " punt " and " punter " are to be referred to Fr. ponter, and See also:ponce, which is usually taken as an See also:adaptation of Span. punto, a point .

End of Article: PUNT (from Lat. ponto, pontoon; connected with pons, bridge)
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