mispunch
mispunch verb: to punch the wrong key or button on a keyboard, keypad, keypunch, or similar device.
Verb
mispunch (third-person singular simple present mispunches, present participle mispunching, simple past and past participle mispunched)
- To punch the wrong key or button on a keyboard, keypad, keypunch, or similar device.
- Unlike the computer, the researcher may very well tire of running regression coefficients after the first dozen or two, and begin to misread his data or mispunch the buttons on his desk calculator.1967, Edmund Addison Bowles, Computers in Humanistic Research: Readings and Perspectives, page 95
- IRS operators mispunch computer keys all the time.1996, Holmes F. Crouch, Irma J. Crouch, Winning Your Audit, page 2-9
- To punch a hole in the wrong place.
- As will be seen by the accompanying sketch to use this cutter, it is not necessary to punch any holes in sheet before taken to drill press. All that is required is ordinary center punch mark, thereby saving time and labor, also avoiding the liability of workman spoiling the sheet by mispunched hole.1904 May, J.T.J., “A Flue Hole Cutter That Cuts”, in Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way, volume 10, page 16
- Nevertheless, within 4 weeks of the transfer, a written warning was issued to Linnet, dated Friday, January 5, "1972," (an apparent typographical error), stating that Linnet in the last 3 weeks mispunched an excessive number of holes, requiring welding, grinding, and repunching;1975, Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board, page 315
- To punch a ball or similar object so that it does not go to the intended destination.
- Four of us stood behind the baseline while two crouched at the net (expecting at any moment to get hit by an errant serve or mispunched volley).2006, Voices of the Armory, page P-110
- Another training routine I picked up and adapted was using a punchball to practise timing my clearing punches for crosses which could not be held. I became like a boxer, I had to really, because I wouldn't afford to mispunch in our own goalmouth.2012, Simon Lowe, Wolves Match of My Life
Noun
mispunch (plural mispunches)
- An act or result of mispunching (any sense).
- What happens when a mispunch is found in an input record?1978, National Bureau of Standards, Computer Science and Statistics: Tenth Annual Symposium on the Interface, page 261
- Therefore, a two-handed punch gives a greater contact area than a one-handed, and reduces the chances of a mispunch ( see illustration 216 ).1984, Tony Waiters, Coaching to Win, page 187
Examples of mispunch in a sentence
- There are ample opportunities to omit data or make incorrect entries on the coding sheets or to transpose or mispunch data on the keypunch.2012, Joseph Frein, Handbook of Construction Management and Organization, page 460:
- No, you did not mispunch the calculator.2015, Tom Bassarear, Meg Moss, Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers, page 278:
- Upon removal of the mispunch and reanalysis, two other points in this data set emerge as possible outliers.2009, William K. Michener, James W. Brunt, Ecological Data: Design, Management and Processing, page 83:
- If you have an 'mp', or mispunch, it means you went to a wrong control, or missed one out, and are, unfortunately, disqualified.2014, Carol McNeill, Orienteering: Skills- Techniques- Training:
Forms of mispunch
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | mispunches |
| present participle | mispunching |
| past participle | mispunched |
| past | mispunched |
| Noun | |
| plural | mispunches |
Origin of mispunch
From mis- + punch.
Questions about mispunch
- What does mispunch mean?
- Mispunch means to punch the wrong key or button on a keyboard, keypad, keypunch, or similar device.
- How do you use mispunch in a sentence?
- There are ample opportunities to omit data or make incorrect entries on the coding sheets or to transpose or mispunch data on the keypunch.
- What part of speech is mispunch?
- Mispunch can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of mispunch?
- The past tense of mispunch is mispunched.
Words near mispunch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mispunch (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “mispunch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mispunch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.