punch-down

punch-down is the alternative spelling of punchdown.

punch-down is the nonstandard spelling of punch down.

Meaning of punchdown

punchdown (plural punchdowns)

A kind of electrical connection often used in telephony, having solid copper wires that are punched down into short open-ended slots which are a type of insulation-displacement connector. The slots contain blades which cut through the wire's insulation as it is punched down, and hold the wire in position while making electrical contact.

Synonyms:

punch block

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

(intransitive, slang) To attack or target a group that is weaker or of lower status than oneself.
- The anti-vaxx movement punches down and punches hard. Its leaders tend to be men and women from wealthy backgrounds. […] They draw a large part of their audience from the poor, the poorly educated and ethnic minorities.2021 January 30, Nick Cohen, “Anti-vaxxers posing as victims has a history. Look at Andrew Wakefield”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2023
Antonyms:

punch up
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see punch, down.

Noun
plural	punch-downs
Verb
third-person singular present	punches-down
present participle	punching-down
past participle	punched-down
past	punched-down

What is punch-down the alternative spelling of?: Punch-down is the alternative spelling of punchdown.

Adapted from Wiktionary: punch-down (page history and authors); punchdown (page history and authors); punch down (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: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “punch-down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/punch-down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.