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The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

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<strong>The</strong> punters are putting all their money on United to win the<br />

cup. 2 fellow, chap, person, individual, man or woman in the<br />

street; customer, client, buyer, Colloq guy, Brit bloke, geezer:<br />

<strong>The</strong> average punter likes a beer now and then.<br />

puny adj. 1 small, little, insignificant, petty, unimportant,<br />

inconsequential, paltry, trivial, trifling, minor, negligible,<br />

nugatory, <strong>of</strong> little or no account, inferior, worthless, useless,<br />

Colloq piddling, Slang Brit not much cop: Farr's contribution<br />

to the success <strong>of</strong> the business was really quite puny. 2 small,<br />

little, diminutive, tiny, minute: Mattson looks so puny<br />

alongside that sumo wrestler. 3 weak, feeble, frail, sickly,<br />

weakly, underfed, undernourished, undersized, underdeveloped,<br />

stunted, dwarf, midget, pygmy: You cannot expect such a puny<br />

chap to lift such a great weight.<br />

pup n. puppy, whelp, upstart, whippersnapper, popinjay, cub,<br />

jackanapes, show-<strong>of</strong>f, braggart: That young pup had the gall to<br />

tell me I was too old to be running the company.<br />

pupil n. student, learner, scholar, schoolchild, schoolgirl,<br />

schoolboy, disciple, apprentice; beginner, novice, neophyte,<br />

tiro or tyro, Chiefly ecclesiastical catechumen: A number <strong>of</strong><br />

Ge<strong>of</strong>frey's former pupils have organized a dinner to honour him.<br />

puppet n. 1 hand puppet, finger-puppet, glove puppet, doll;<br />

marionette, string puppet: <strong>The</strong> children built a little theatre<br />

and put on a puppet show. 2 figurehead, cat's-paw, pawn, dupe,<br />

tool, hireling, yes-man Colloq front (man), Slang stooge,<br />

sucker, patsy: He is without authority and is merely a puppet<br />

<strong>of</strong> the drug dealers. <strong>The</strong> army <strong>of</strong> occupation set up a puppet<br />

government to rule the country.<br />

purchase v. 1 buy, acquire, procure, obtain, get, secure, pay for: He<br />

recently purchased a new personal computer and cannot get it to<br />

work. Not long ago, a shilling purchased a loaf <strong>of</strong> bread. 2 win,<br />

gain, achieve, realize, attain, obtain: His liberty was<br />

purchased by the betrayal <strong>of</strong> his colleagues.<br />

--n. 3 acquisition, acquiring, buying, purchasing, obtaining,<br />

securing, procurement: <strong>The</strong> purchase <strong>of</strong> books for the university<br />

library is the responsibility <strong>of</strong> Monica Turnbull. 4 buy,<br />

acquisition: Tom returned from the shop carrying his purchases.

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