noun

• 1US A team ball game in which a rubber ball is punched or headed.

  ‘I come from the part of Brooklyn, N.Y., where girls played punchball or handball, unless they were fortunate enough to have someone pay for their tennis lessons.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Punchball is a sport similar to baseball but without a pitcher, catcher, or bat.’
  • ‘Punchball should be declared an Olympic event.’

• 2British

  another term for punching bag

  ‘He is a past master of the photo-opportunity who, as a Scottish Office minister, wowed inmates at Saughton Prison with his boxing skills by laying into a punchball.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Despite the lack of a swimming pool on board the ship to Canada, King kept fit by using a boxer's punchball - the method Allan Wells pioneered for track sprinters over 40 years later.’