punnet

Definition

A small basket or receptacle for collecting and selling fruit, particularly strawberries.

Etymology

Uncertain. First appears in the 1820s. Perhaps a diminutive of pun, a dialect variant of pound, the weight + -et. The suggestion that it is an eponym of Reginald Crundall Punnett (1875–1967), geneticist and grower of strawberries, is not chronologically possible. The suggestion it was an ancestor of his lacks evidence.

Example Sentences

• "Thus, according to the same Year-Book, a sea-kale punnet measures 8 in. in diameter at the top and 7½ in. at the bottom, being 2 in. deep, while a radish punnet is 8 in. in diameter and 1 in. deep, if to hold six “hands,” or 9 in. by 1 in. for twelve “hands.” A mushroom punnet is 7 in. by 1 in., while a salading punnet is 5 in. by 2 in."
• "Another type of splint basket, called a punnet, was used in the strawberry trade of New York City between 1815 and 1850.[…]Punnets and pottles found little favor except in the vicinity of Boston and New York and were soon discarded for more convenient and less expensive packages."
• "Most of the fruit for market is picked and sold in punnets, but for jam making buckets are used, similar to the raspberry bucket."