punt vs wager

punt

noun
  • A bet or wager. 

  • A pontoon; a narrow shallow boat propelled by a pole. 

  • A kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. 

  • Gambling, as a pastime, especially betting on horseraces or the dogs. E.g anyone up for a punt on Randwick? 

  • A highly speculative investment or other commitment. 

  • A wild guess. 

  • A thin glass rod which is temporarily attached to a larger piece in order to better manipulate the larger piece. 

  • The act of playing at basset, baccara, faro, etc. 

  • An indentation in the base of a wine bottle. 

  • A point in the game of faro. 

  • The Irish pound, used as the unit of currency of Ireland until it was replaced by the euro in 2002. 

verb
  • To propel a punt or similar craft by means of a pole. 

  • To kick a bouncing ball far and high. 

  • To retreat from one's objective; to abandon an effort one still notionally supports. 

  • To equivocate and delay or put off (answering a question, addressing an issue, etc). 

  • To make the best choice from a set of non-ideal alternatives. 

  • To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally 

  • To make a highly speculative investment or other commitment, or take a wild guess. 

  • To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance. 

  • Of a fish, to walk along the seafloor using its fins as limbs. 

  • To kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground. (This puts the ball farther from the goal across which the opposing team is attempting to score, so improves the chances of the team punting.) 

  • To play at basset, baccara, faro, etc. 

  • To eject; to kick out of a place. 

wager

noun
  • That on which bets are laid; the subject of a bet. 

  • Something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a stake; a pledge. 

  • An offer to make oath. 

  • A contract by which two parties or more agree that a certain sum of money, or other thing, shall be paid or delivered to one of them, on the happening or not happening of an uncertain event. 

verb
  • To suppose; to dare say. 

  • To bet something; to put it up as collateral. 

How often have the words punt and wager occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )