SOME (or big) pumpkins (or AS BIG AS PUMPKINS), phr. (American).—A high appreciation: cf. SMALL POTATOES (q.v.).
18[?]. Pickings from the Picayune; 237 [De Vere]. I swow, my son Fred is a fine fellow; you may axe every rouster on the levee, and I'll be hanged if they don't tell you he is some pumpkins to hum.
1848. Ruxton, Far West, 178. Afore I left the settlements I know'd a white gal, and she was some punkins. Ibid., 41. The biggest kind of punkin at that.
1852. Bristed, Up. Ten Thousand, 216. We being punkins were of course among the invited. Ibid., Note. A slang expression of young New York for people of value and consequence.
1855. Haliburton, Human Nature [De Vere]. Franklin was a poor printer-boy and Washington a land-surveyor, yet they growed to be some pumpkins.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms. Bostonians are said to have derived, from their attachment to this vegetable, and the esteem in which it is universally held among them, the phrase some pumpkins, expressive of high appreciation . . . Ibid. It is stated, however, by one high in authority among New Englanders, that this explanation of the term is not the true one, although the latter cannot well be stated, because it would offend ears polite.
Pumpkin-head, subs. phr. (American).—A
fool: see Buffle.
Pump-sucker, subs. phr. (common).—A
teetotaller.
Pump-thunder, subs. phr. (common).—A
blusterer: see Furioso.
Also as verb. See Hell.
PUM-PUM, subs. phr. (old).—A
fiddler.
Pumpwater. See Aqua and
Yard.
Pun, subs. (old: now recognised).—1.
A play upon words, similar
in sound but different in meaning :
also as verb.—B.E. (c.1696).
2. (Harrow school).—Punishment. Hence pun-paper = specially ruled paper for puns and impositions.
To PUN OUT, verb. phr. (Christ's Hospital).—To inform against: e.g., 'I'll pun out'; 'I'll pun you out': exclusively a London expression; at Hertford, TO pun or pun of.
Punch, subs. (old).—1. See quots.
1669 and 1870: hence, punchy
= fat-bellied: cf. paunch.—B.E.
(c.1696). Punchiness =
stoutness of build.
1669. Pepys, Diary, 30 Ap. I . . . did hear them call their fat child punch, which pleased me mighty, that word being become a word of common use for all that is thick and short.
1707. Ward, Hud. Rediv., 11. iv. 24. Two Punches next, with wond'rous Vigour, Perform'd a Dance in double Figure.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 119. A stout Suffolk punch. Ibid. 11. 124. A fat, little, punchy concern of sixteen.
1850. Leigh Hunt, Autobiog., iii. A short, stout man, inclining to punchiness.
1870. Farrier's Dict. [Ency. Dict.]. "Punch is a horse that is well-set and well-knit, having a short back and thin shoulders, with a broad neck, and well lined with flesh."
2. (colloquial).—A blow; also as verb: e.g., 'to punch one's head.'
1603. Chapman, Iliad, vi. 126. With a goad he punch'd each furious dame.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, ii Smart chap that cabman . . . but . . . PUNCH HIS HEAD.
