PUN (punned, punning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: punned    , punning   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pun mean? 

• PUN (noun)
  The noun PUN has 1 sense:

1. a humorous play on words

  Familiarity information: PUN used as a noun is very rare.

• PUN (verb)
  The verb PUN has 1 sense:

1. make a play on words

  Familiarity information: PUN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A humorous play on words

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

paronomasia; pun; punning; wordplay

Context example:

his constant punning irritated her

Hypernyms ("pun" is a kind of...):

fun; play; sport (verbal wit or mockery (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously))

Derivation:

pun (make a play on words)

punster (someone overly fond of making puns)

• PUN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pun    ... he / she / it puns   
Past simple: punned   
Past participle: punned   
-ing form: punning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a play on words

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

Japanese like to pun--their language is well suited to punning

Hypernyms (to "pun" is one way to...):

jest; joke (tell a joke; speak humorously)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

pun; punning (a humorous play on words)

 Context examples 

Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Then Miss Mills benignantly dismissed me, saying, Go back to Dora! and I went; and Dora leaned out of the carriage to talk to me, and we talked all the rest of the way; and I rode my gallant grey so close to the wheel that I grazed his near fore leg against it, and took the bark off, as his owner told me, to the tune of three pun' sivin'—which I paid, and thought extremely cheap for so much joy.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Her own family were plain, matter-of-fact people who seldom aimed at wit of any kind; her father, at the utmost, being contented with a pun, and her mother with a proverb; they were not in the habit therefore of telling lies to increase their importance, or of asserting at one moment what they would contradict the next.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)