PUNCHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does puncher mean? 

• PUNCHER (noun)
  The noun PUNCHER has 3 senses:

1. a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback

2. someone who delivers punches

3. a tool for making holes or indentations

  Familiarity information: PUNCHER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUNCHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

cattleman; cowboy; cowhand; cowherd; cowman; cowpoke; cowpuncher; puncher

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

ranch hand (a hired hand on a ranch)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "puncher"):

buckaroo; buckeroo; vaquero (local names for a cowboy ('vaquero' is used especially in southwestern and central Texas and 'buckaroo' is used especially in California))

cowgirl (a woman cowboy)

gaucho (a cowboy of the South American pampas)

horse wrangler; wrangler (a cowboy who takes care of the saddle horses)

roper (a cowboy who uses a lasso to rope cattle or horses)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who delivers punches

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

boxer; pugilist (someone who fights with his fists for sport)

Derivation:

punch (deliver a quick blow to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tool for making holes or indentations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

punch; puncher

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

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "puncher"):

center punch (a tool with a conical point that is used to make indentations in metal (especially to mark points for drilling))

punch pliers (punch consisting of pliers for perforating paper or leather)

Derivation:

punch (make a hole into or between, as for ease of separation)

 Context examples 

"You remember the other time I was here I said I couldn't talk about books an' things because I didn't know how? Well, I've ben doin' a lot of thinkin' ever since. I've ben to the library a whole lot, but most of the books I've tackled have ben over my head. Mebbe I'd better begin at the beginnin'. I ain't never had no advantages. I've worked pretty hard ever since I was a kid, an' since I've ben to the library, lookin' with new eyes at books—an' lookin' at new books, too—I've just about concluded that I ain't ben reading the right kind. You know the books you find in cattle- camps an' fo'c's'ls ain't the same you've got in this house, for instance. Well, that's the sort of readin' matter I've ben accustomed to. And yet—an' I ain't just makin' a brag of it—I've ben different from the people I've herded with. Not that I'm any better than the sailors an' cow-punchers I travelled with,—I was cow-punchin' for a short time, you know,—but I always liked books, read everything I could lay hands on, an'—well, I guess I think differently from most of 'em.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)