an instrument of iron or steel, used in several arts, for the piercing or stamping holes in plates of metals, &c. being so contrived as not only to perforate, but to cut out and take away the piece. The punch is a principal instrument of the metal-button makers, shoe-makers, &c.

Punch is also a name for a sort of compound drink, much used here, and in many parts abroad, particularly in Jamaica, and several other parts of the West Indies.

Its basis is spring-water; which being rendered cooler, brisker, and more acid, with lemon or lime juice, and sweetened again to the palate with fine sugar, makes what they call fherbet; to which a proper quantity of spirituous liquor, as brandy, rum, or arrack, being added, the liquor commences punch.