Word.ws English Dictionary

kidney punch

kidney punch noun: a blow struck with the fist to the lower back region, capable of causing serious internal injury and not permitted under the rules of boxing.

Noun

kidney punch (plural kidney punches)

  1. A blow struck with the fist to the lower back region, capable of causing serious internal injury and not permitted under the rules of boxing.
    • Following the bout, Schmeling said he was fouled. He said that he was hit a kidney punch, a devastating right, which so shocked his nervous system that he was dazed and his vision was blurred1938 June 22, James P. Dawson, “Fight, Might and Whata Right!”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Jan 2014
    • These fees have ballooned. . . . That has hit advertising like a kidney punch.1991 September 22, “What Happened To Advertising”, in Businessweek, retrieved 06 Jan 2014

Verb

kidney punch (third-person singular simple present kidney punches, present participle kidney punching, simple past and past participle kidney punched)

  1. To deliver such a blow.

Forms of kidney punch

Noun
pluralkidney punches
alternative formkidney-punch
Verb
third-person singular presentkidney punches
present participlekidney punching
past participlekidney punched
pastkidney punched

Questions about kidney punch

What does kidney punch mean?
Kidney punch means a blow struck with the fist to the lower back region, capable of causing serious internal injury and not permitted under the rules of boxing.
What part of speech is kidney punch?
Kidney punch can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of kidney punch?
The plural of kidney punch is kidney punches.

Words near kidney punch in the dictionary

  1. kidney machines
  2. kidney ore
  3. kidney ores
  4. kidney potato
  5. kidney potatoes
  6. kidney punch
  7. kidney punched
  8. kidney punches
  9. kidney punching
  10. kidney stone
  11. kidney stones

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kidney punch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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