punch (2), pounche

[Hind. panch = five, from its consisting originally of five ingredients, viz., aqua-vitæ, rose-water, juice of citron, sugar, and arrack.] A beverage, introduced from India, and now compounded of spirit (whisky, brandy, rum, .), water (or milk), lemon-juice, sugar, and spice. "I take punch to relieve me in my agony." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. xiv. IMG:content-1737.png:[blocks in formation] "Giving him, when prostrate on the ground, many violent punches on the breast with their knees." -Memoir of Sir E. Godfrey , p. 72. Punch (4), s . [A contract. of punchinello (q. v.). There is prob. a confusion with punch , a. (q. v.)] The chief character in the popular comic show of Punch-and-Judy; he is represented as a short, hump-backed man.