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Origin and history of bunt

bunt(v.)

1825, "to strike with the head or horns" (of a goat or calf); perhaps an alteration of butt (v.) with a goat in mind, or a survival from Middle English bounten "to leap back, return" (early 15c., perhaps from a variant of Old French bondir; see bound (v.2)). As a baseball term from 1889. Also compare punt (v.). Related: Bunted; bunting.

bunt(n.)

1767, "a push with the head or horns" (of a goat or calf); see bunt (v.). Baseball sense "stop the ball with the bat without swinging the bat" is from 1889.

also from 1767

Entries linking to bunt

bound(v.2)

"to leap, spring upward, jump," 1590s, from French bondir "to rebound, resound, echo," from Old French bondir "to leap, jump, rebound;" originally "make a noise, sound (a horn), beat (a drum)," 13c., ultimately "to echo back," from Vulgar Latin *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb (n.)), perhaps on model of Old French tentir, from Vulgar Latin *tinnitire.

butt(v.)

"hit with the head, strike by thrusting" (as with the end of a beam or thick stick), c. 1200, from Anglo-French buter, Old French boter "push, shove, knock; thrust against," from Frankish or another Germanic source (compare Old Norse bauta, Low German boten "to strike, beat"), from Proto-Germanic *butan, from PIE root *bhau- "to strike."

The meaning "join at the end, be contiguous" is from 1660s, partly a shortening of abut. To butt in "rudely intrude" is American English slang, attested from 1900. Related: Butted; butting.

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Trends of bunt

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

punt
in football, "a kick of the ball as it is dropped from the hands and before it strikes the ground," 1845; from punt (v.)...."flat-bottomed, square-ended, mastless river boat," c. 1500, perhaps a local survival of late Old English punt, which probably is from British Latin ponto "
bunting
Or it might be named in reference to speckled plumage and be from an unrecorded Old English word akin to German bunt "speckled...
squeeze
The baseball squeeze play "sacrifice bunt to score a runner from third" is so called by 1905....
strike
Middle English striken, from Old English strican (past tense strac, past participle stricen) "pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub" (senses now obsolete), also "go, move, proceed, make one's way," from Proto-Germanic *strikanan (source also of Old Norse strykva "to stroke," Old
hit
late Old English hyttan, hittan "come upon, meet with, fall in with, 'hit' upon," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse hitta "to light upon, meet with," also "to hit, strike;" Swedish hitta "to find," Danish and Norwegian hitte "to hit, find," from Proto-Germanic *hitjan,
striking
1610s, "that strikes," in a physical sense, present-participle adjective from strike (v.). The meaning "producing a vivid impression, standing out, prominent, conspicuous" is by 1752, from the verb in the sense of "catch the fancy of" (1590s). Related: Strikingly; strikingness. A
must
auxiliary of prediction, "be obliged, be necessarily impelled," from Old English moste, past tense of motan "have to, be able to," from Proto-Germanic *motanan (source also of Old Saxon motan "to be obliged to, have to," Old Frisian mota, Middle Low German moten, Dutch moeten, Ge
smut
1660s, "black mark, stain," from verb smutten "debase, defile" (late 14c.), later specifically "stain or mark made with soot, etc." (1580s), cognate with Middle High German smotzen "make dirty," from West Germanic *smutt- (source also of Middle High German smuz "grease, dirt;" Ge
caries
1630s, "destructive disease of bone," from Latin caries "rottenness, decay," from Proto-Italic *kas-, usually said to be from PIE root *kere- "to injure, break apart" (source also of Greek ker "death, destruction," Old Irish krin "withered, faded"). Related: Carious. But de Vaan

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Dictionary entries near bunt
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