Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Pun

Pun

,
Verb.
T.
[See
Pound
to beat.]
To pound.
[Obs.]
He would
pun
thee into shivers with his fist.
Shakespeare

Pun

,
Noun.
[Cf.
Pun
to pound,
Pound
to beat.]
A play on words which have the same sound but different meanings; an expression in which two different applications of a word present an odd or ludicrous idea; a kind of quibble or equivocation.
Addison.
A better
put
on this word was made on the Beggar’s Opera, which, it was said, made Gay rich, and Rich gay.
Walpole.

Pun

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Punned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Punning
.]
To make puns, or a pun; to use a word in a double sense, especially when the contrast of ideas is ludicrous; to play upon words; to quibble.
Dryden.

Pun

,
Verb.
T.
To persuade or affect by a pun.
Addison.

Webster 1828 Edition


Pun

PUN

,
Noun.
An expression in which a word has at once different meanings; an expression in which two different applications of a word present an odd or ludicrous idea; a kind of quibble or equivocation; a low species of wit. Thus a man who had a tall wife named Experience, observed that he had, by long experience, proved the blessings of a married life.
A pun can be no more engraven,than it can be translated.

PUN

,
Verb.
I.
To quibble; to use the same word at once in different senses.

PUN

,
Verb.
T.
To persuade by a pun.