Punch

See also: punch

English

Etymology 1

Shortened from Punchinello.

Proper noun

Punch

1. (British) A glove puppet who is the main character used in a Punch and Judy show.
2. Any butterfly of genus Dodona.

Derived terms

• common Punch (Dodona durga)

Translations

character of a puppet show

• Bavarian: Kasperl m
• Czech: Kašpárek (cs) m anim
• Danish: Mester Jakel m
• Dutch: Jan Klaassen m
• Finnish: Punch
• French: Guignol (fr) m
• German: Kasper (de) m, Kasperl (de) m or n, Kasperle n
• Greek: Φασουλής (el) (Fasoulís)
• Japanese: パンチ (ja) (Panchi)
• Romanian: Vasilache m
• Russian: Панч m (Panč), (Russian version) Петру́шка (ru) m (Petrúška)

Noun

Punch (plural Punches)

1. Short for Suffolk Punch (“type of horse”).
   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     ‘And the Punches,’ said William. ‘There’s cattle! A Suffolk Punch, when he’s a good un, is worth his weight in gold. Did you ever breed any Suffolk Punches yourself, sir?’

2. A butterfly of the genus Dodona.

See also

• pleased as Punch
• proud as Punch
• Punch and Judy

Etymology 2

Variant of Points.

Proper noun

Punch (plural Punches)

1. A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Punch is the 19654^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 1371 individuals. Punch is most common among White (64.55%) and Black/African American (31.8%) individuals.

Further reading

• Punch and Judy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Punch”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.