Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a woman considered ripe for seduction; thus punchable nun n., a prostitute.

1695		‘Young Damsels Lamentation’ in Pepys Ballads (1987) III 287: I am Punchable she cry’d, therefore will not be deny’d; He being willing, for a shilling, readily comply’d.
1696		‘Rare News for the Female Sex’ in Pepys Ballads (1987) III 184: I’m Punchable ’tis known, my Marygold is blown.
1709		N. Ward Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 270: The Lady-Abbess of the Brothel-Monastry never wanting [...] Ready-money Chapmen for any of her Punchable Nuns, who had not, as yet, broken the brittle Vow of Female Chastity.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: punchable [...] a Woman marriageable.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: A girl that is ripe for man is called a punchable wench.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(US) a promiscuous woman; a cheap prostitute.

1975		C. Colnett In Daddy’s Bed [ebook] Pam had been the high school punchboard-a good-looking, sexy little blonde with a nympho's need for males [...] If you want to suck some pussy, you find the local punchboard - but keep your mouth and cock the hell away from my Cindy.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 100: Most of the young-blood pilgrims down at Rita’s have enjoyed her plenty, calling her the ‘town punchboard’.
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 152: We’re not talkin’ about five-dollar punchboards here. And none of them were known streetwalkers.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 220: Said girl were ‘liberal cooze.’ Said girls were ‘punchboards out for black stick’.

see punch n.

see separate entry.

(Aus.) a fight, esp. in a street or public house; thus punch-on artist, a street fighter.

1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 89: I could tell he was the veteran of quite a few punch-ons, judging by the marks of past conflict on his face.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 105: I’ve never heard of Al having a punch on without 10 or 12 helpers backing him up.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 29: Some of the best punch-on artists in Australia come from Tassie.

see separate entry.

1. (also punch on) a fight, usu. in the street, a pub etc.

1954		News Chronicle 4 June 5/1: [On]ne lad boasted of being able to call up his team of 150 for a ‘punch-up’ within the hour.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 28: Everybody turns out if there’s a real punch-up with another mob.
1971		J. McNeill Chocolate Frog (1973) 23: Shirker: All you learned at yer shitpot university, stupe, was ter get in a pub punch-up.
1977		Daily Mirror 19 Aug. 1: A punch-up involving National Front supporters flared up as the Ladywood by-election result was announced.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 31: What is it this time? The punch-up we had in here Saturday night?
1999		Observer Screen 27 June 20: If you’re looking for a punch up, the much anticipated head-to-head [...] is a damp squid.
2000		Indep. Mag. 22 Jan. 11: No press wars and no punch-ups.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 63/1: It took one person to start something and it was on, all in punch on.
2012		E. Wald Dozens 13: I have Scottish friends whose idea of a good time on a Saturday night is a ‘punch-up,’ sometimes with a buddy, sometimes with a stranger.
2020		W. Boyd Trio 239: he had had to deal with drugs, divorces, physical punch-ups [...] drunkenness on the set.

2. a beating.

1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 190: If, in the punch-up, the law decorated his face, it was jam to explain it away.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 24: A right punch-up from the law in a little granite room.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 95: Sooner wait for a punch-up on association down Wandsworth than this.

(N.Z.) to defecate.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 164: punch out a dark one/a nougat/a steamer To defecate. ANZ.

see separate entry.

see under gun n.⁵

to arrive (at work).

1944		G. Farwell in Coast to Coast (1943) 116: Yesterday I was late punching in. They’ll be docking me .
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 131: The bar that usually kept busy until after the good people had punched in for their morning work.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 59: Then the Cubans punched in. Cubiches! They sure shook up the hoodlums.

see knock into the middle of next week under knock into v.

1. in senses of movement [one’s feet ‘punch’ the street].

2. (US gay) to take the passive role in anal intercourse.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 112: Most hustlers claim they protect their manhood [...] Others, however, pack or punch it which is complete acceptance of the customer’s cock anally.

see separate entry.

(N.Z.) to beat up, to thrash with the fists.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

see knock someone’s block off under block n.¹

1. to murder, to kill.

1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 185: ‘They punched my ticket,’ Monk whispered, his voice hissing and crackling like waxed paper, ‘and I’m just about to my station.’.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 69: Aw, pipe down there, Greasy [...] or you’ll be having St. Peter punch your ticket in a few minutes if I wind in on you.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 69: Sure punched his ticket.
1998		K. Anderson Night Dogs 81: ‘That nigger would have shot your ass if I hadn’t punched his ticket’.
2004		T. Dorsey Cadillac Beach 115: I just know he didn’t drown. Someone punched his ticket.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 369: So what are you saying - we punch his ticket?
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] Perhaps I should have punched my own ticket already, ’cause life was a sham.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] Maybe he planned on punching Byron’s ticket either way.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 44: ‘If I have to punch somebody’s ticket I’ll do it’.

2. to beat comprehensively; to punish.

1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 185: He beat that colored guy [...] He punched his ticket.
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 86: This Fresno bunch is cowed. Angel’s been punching the ticket on each of them.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 284: ‘It’s called [...] “you punch a shithead’s ticket that deserved to be punched”’.

see also under relevant nouns.

(US) to go through the motions.

1951

C. Stoker Thicker ’n Thieves 228: There are prosecutions and ‘prosecutions,’ meaning that upon occasion the district attorney merely ‘punches the bag’ for public edification, having no intention of convicting the criminal before the bar of justice.

1. (Aus.) to work hard, less from choice than from the desire to make more money.

1972		G.W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 108: Some slang seems to be better known in New South Wales [...] punch the bundy ‘clock in at work’ (from the name of the manufacturer of the clock).
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 834/1: since ca. 1935.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 42: Punch the bundy: Literally to arrive at work on time and check in at one’s appointed hour. However, in popular parlance punching the bundy meant that one was unwillingly doing a lot of ‘hard graft’ in an effort to ‘make a quid’.

2. (Aus.) to check in, to register.

2000

R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] ‘I can punch the bundy at Waverley Police Station on the way up’.

1. to ‘clock on’ or ‘clock off’ for work.

1915		A.M. Drake Vial of Vishnu 323: Come in in the morning, punch the clock; go out to lunch, punch the clock; come in from lunch, punch the clock [...] Well, you see, besides punching the clock, every man working in one of those big shops has a time ticket.
1927		W. Edge Main Stem 1: It was [...] dark when I punched the time clock of this damn’ stove factory.
1935		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 31 May [synd. col.] He will not have to punch a studio clock.
1953		S. Aleichem Adventures of Mottel 283: That’s what is called ‘punching the clock.’ The card says the exact hour and minute you’ve come. Then comes the foreman and checks your card.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 111: A detective [...] can’t punch the clock.
1989		Solomon & Tytell Emergency Messages 85: The work day begins with punching the clock.
1993		CIO Mag. 15 Dec. 22/3: Swiping the card is now the Information Age equivalent of punching the clock for hourly employees.
2007		Indianapolis Monthly Apr. 137/1: I ran into the parking lot without punching the clock— something I knew might get my pay docked.

2. to be employed, to go to work.

1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 219: One day we were punching the clock out on a job on the West Side and as we were taking the bartender to the back to lock him up, he dashed up a stairway leading to an upstairs apartment.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 10: Hell, he’ll have you punching a clock before the week’s out.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 259: That was a major leap from punching a clock.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 250: Did I enjoy punching the clock as a nameless director?

3. in fig. use, to die [implies ‘clocking off’ at the end of the day].

1990

S. Morgan Homeboy 109: When they transferred me stateside [...] I wanted to punch the Big Clock.

(US tramp) to ride on the outside of a train.

1907		J. London Road 132: The pilot of the head engine, because it ‘punched the wind’ I knew would be too cold; so I selected the pilot of the second engine, which was sheltered by the first engine.
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 459: Punch the wind, To ride a train in a position where the full force of the wind strikes one.
1930		G. Milburn Hobo’s Hornbook xix: Crowded in this small space on the forward truck (on the rear truck he must ‘punch the wind’) the passenger stiff rides. [Ibid.] 242: ‘The Boomer’s Blues’: Mob up and flop down around me, / Punch wind with an old-time ’bo.