pun

Verb

pun (third-person singular simple present puns, present participle punning, simple past and past participle punned)

1. (transitive) To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
   • Shakespeare:

     He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.

2. (intransitive) To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words.

   We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.

Noun

pun (plural puns)

1. A joke or type of wordplay in which similar senses or sounds of two words or phrases, or different senses of the same word, are deliberately confused.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall, OCLC 39810224, page 124:

     "Certainly, my home at my uncle's brought me acquainted with a circle of admirals. Of Rears, and Vices, I saw enough. Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat."

     Austen was likely referring to flogging or spanking, then common naval punishments, known as le vice Anglais.

   The pun is the lowest form of wit.

Noun

pun (plural puns or pun)

1. (Korean units of measure) Alternative form of bun: a Korean unit of length equivalent to about 0.3 cm.

Declension

Synonyms

• pum