noun
paunch
pawnch
noun
1
A protruding belly, especially a large one on a man.
"Years of beer and takeaways had left him with quite a paunch."
"He patted his paunch and laughed about the extra Christmas dinner."
2
The first stomach chamber of a cow or other cud-chewing animal (the rumen).
"The paunch breaks down tough plant fibre before the rest of digestion begins."
How to Use Paunch
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA big round belly, or (in animals) the first stomach compartment.
Common pairings
a beer paunch
a growing paunch
Word Forms
paunched past tense, paunches plural, paunches singular
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Years of beer and takeaways had left him with quite a _____.
Etymology
From Old French pance, going back to Latin pantex ("belly") — the same root that gives us "pancreas."