Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also punt up) to gamble, to wager; lit. and fig.

1753		Foote Englishman in Paris in Works (1799) I 35: Has Count Cog sent you your share out of Mr Puntwell’s losings?
1794		Sporting Mag. Mar. III 321/2: Players are not permitted to punt less than less than half guineas, sometimes not less than guineas.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 142: To Punt — to put down money for the play at rouge et noir or la roulette.
1824		History of Gaming Houses & Gamesters 16: [They] came here to punt for single guineas.
1853		G.J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand (1890) 77: If Hillingdon once gets you in there [i.e. Crockford’s] [...] you will both begin ‘punting,’ sit up till five o’clock, lose three hundred a-piece, and go home disgusted.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict. 262: Punt to gamble; [...] Common in ancient writers, but now disused. The word seems confined to playing for ‘chicken stakes.’ punt means now in the sporting world to back horses for small stakes.
1889		H. Smart Long Odds I 11: ‘There’s Bramton punting [...] like a man who means business’.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 51: Mervyn ‘punted’ to such an extent that [...] he was aghast to find that he had not enough left to purchase a plate of the celebrated Irish stew.
1901		D. Cotsford Society Snapshots 133: I’ve heard such awful accounts of the people who frequent this place! [i.e. Monte Carlo] . . . the men who punt, the women who paint.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 19 June 1/1: A punting pal pitched him a fairy about judicial fury .
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. 7/4: With a 10-bob tote, the Legerite can’t ‘punt a dollar,’ whereas a ‘book’ will accept a wager of a florin and be thankful.
1918		C.J. Dennis ‘A Digger’s Tale’ in Chisholm (1951) 101: Out ’ome ’ere, barrackin’ for Collin’wood, / Or puntin’ on the flat at Flemington.
1937		R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 125: He had punted £10 of his own money on the dog.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: punting . . . betting.
1959		F. Norman Fings I i: They come up here to punt and all they see is you and your birds laying abaht and so they shoot down to French ’Erbert’s.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 58: Only two kinds of people punt the horses, the needy and the greedy.
1983		A. Payne ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 61: The only way out, the way he saw it, was to carry on punting.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 177: It was during this [period] that I started to punt again.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 320: Doubles, Quinellas, Straight-Out or bet Each-Way, / Yes I’m Kevin the SP Bookie - so punt up and make my day.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 317: Sometimes Jane overheard. He punted. He lied.
2013		T. Peacock More You Bet 65: A punting bagman might also be tempted to rob the punter!

2. to pay up.

1934

P. Allingham Cheapjack 40: I knew that as soon as I’d got the first one to punt they’d all naturally follow.

3. to sell, to promote.

1983		A. Payne ‘Senior Citizen Caine’ Minder [TV script] 39: You still punting that scotch?
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 190: Since being made redundant [...] he’s punted gear in the markets.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 393: Punting the Grams ahead of schedule.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 149: We’ve never punted skanked gear before, Mort.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 387: Swanney’s puntin it [i.e. heroin] for somebody else, so he’s way doon the peckin order.

4. to make an investment in.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 9: If guys don’t know what you got for sale then how the fuck are they gonna be able to punt for it.