punt

次に引用するThe Quiet Americanに出てきた単語 "punt" は若い頃やっていたラグビーのパントが頭に浮かんでしまうのですが、全く別の意味があるはずです。
Nobody waited to be told what to do. Two men made for the plank and tried to cross it, but they were unbalanced by the weight of their arms and had to sit astride and work their way across a few inches at a time. Another man had found a punt hidden in some bushes down the canal and he worked it to where the lieutenant stood.
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・Oxford English Dictionary: A long, narrow, flat-bottomed boat, square at both ends and propelled with a long pole, used on inland waters chiefly for recreation.: I had no oars because I thought I could propel the punt with a primitive sail that I had assembled.
・Wiktionary: A pontoon; a narrow shallow boat propelled by a pole.
"punt" は動詞としても使われ、その用例が次の様に出てきました。
I assumed that he had gone for a stroll--after punting all the way down the river from Nam Dinh a few snipers would not have warried him...