From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpunpun1 /pʌn/ ●●○ noun [countable] SLJOKEan amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings, or of words that have the same sound but different meanings SYN play on wordsforgive/excuse/pardon the pun (=used to show you know you are making a pun)no pun intended (=used to show you do not mean to make a joke about something) The clergy prey (no pun intended) on bereaved families.
Examples from the Corpus
pun• Political problems which might have stymied Solomon were resolved in a pun or an epigram.• "Seven days without food makes one weak'' is a pun on the words "week'' and "weak'', and also on the different meanings of "one''.• He made a pun on it for the title of his revue Cranks.• Dreams are puns on words and situations in the engram bank.• The audience groaned at his pun.• Instead of charging bulls, Professor Ito bravely faces a barrage of puns.• Waterhouse is given to such puns.• Drinks in hand, the crowd around me erupted with groans of exasperation, the kind usually reserved for terrible puns.• "Pardon the pun, but we were all in the same boat, " said Navy lieutenant Green.• And we do, I mean, we both do, we both make a lot of unintentional puns, uh.• Among the devices he used were puns.no pun intended• Reuschel carries considerable weight in the Assembly, no pun intended.• There was, no pun intended, a wealth of material to draw from.punpun2 verb (punned, punning) [intransitive] to make a punpun on In this line, Hamlet puns on the meaning of ‘saw’.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
pun• Oh, how he could pun.• The hotelier family's punning motif-a bull with its horns to the ground-was woven into the vestibule carpet.• Food for thoughts, puns the hysterical Kate as they depart.• It also puns the Kray/Crow connection and gangland murders.• An awl is an iron instrument used for piercing leather, but the word has been in punning use since time immemorial.Origin pun1 (1600-1700) Probably from pundigrion “pun” ((17-19 centuries)), perhaps from Italian puntiglio; → PUNCTILIOUS 