Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The climactic phrase or statement of a joke, producing a sudden humorous effect.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The final sentence, phrase, or word in a joke or humorous story that is unexpected and produces the humorous effect; the point of a joke.
- noun The final sentence, phrase, or word in any narration, speech, or advertisement that produces the speaker's intended effect.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
final part of ajoke ; theword ,sentence , orexchange of sentences that is intended to be funny and provokeslaughter from thelisteners .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the point of a joke or humorous story
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
punch + line, probably American. It was probably meant to be likened to a quick, sharp punch.
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Examples
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