the.com/punch
a fist's argument, a fruit's party trick, a clock's verb — context decides if it hurts
means To strike a sharp blow with a closed fist, or a tool that stamps or pierces holes — and also a mixed drink served in a bowl, depending entirely on which 'punch' you mean.
from Two unrelated stories crash together here. The blow-and-hole sense comes from Middle English, a shortening of 'puncheon' (a piercing tool), tracing back through Old French to Latin 'pungere,' to prick or pierce — the same root that gives us 'puncture' and 'point.' The drink is a separate tale: the popular story says it comes from Hindi/Sanskrit 'panch,' meaning five, after a recipe of five ingredients (spirit, water, lemon, sugar, spice) brought back by English traders from India in the 1600s — a charming account that's plausible but not airtight, so treat it as the favored theory rather than settled fact.
- origin myth
- named for five punch ingredients, from Hindi 'panch'
- physics
- a boxer's fist can hit near 50 mph
- linguistic punch
- 'packs a punch' once meant literal cargo barrels
- hidden cost
- bare-knuckle hits often break the puncher's hand
royal rumble — wwe wrestling event where 30 wrestlers fight in a ring, last one standing wins