punt
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back up and punt
informal To consider, devise, or undertake a drastically different course of action in an attempt to resolve an undesirable or untenable situation. In American football, a team on offense will commonly punt the ball on their fourth and final down, after other offensive plays have not been successful. I know your strategy didn't go according to plan, but don't despair—back up and punt. Come up with something better. Changing our business model so drastically wasn't something we would have considered a year ago, but this global disaster forced us to back up and punt if we wanted to have any hope of keeping our company open. The CEO doesn't want to hear it, but we have to back up and punt before this failed launch bankrupts us.
drop back and punt
informal To consider, devise, or undertake a drastically different course of action in an attempt to resolve an undesirable or untenable situation. In American football, a team on offense will commonly punt the ball on their fourth and final down, after other offensive plays have not been successful. I know your strategy didn't go according to plan, but don't despair—drop back and punt. Come up with something better. Changing our business model so drastically wasn't something we would have considered a year ago, but this global disaster forced us to drop back and punt if we wanted to have any hope of keeping our company open. Well, we didn't get the funding we'd hoped for, so it's time to drop back and punt. There must be other investors out there who are interested in our product.
take a punt at (something)
1. To make an attempt at; to try. John's taking a punt at writing for an online magazine. He says he likes it so far.
2. To make a guess or estimate about. Many tech websites like this try to take a punt at what cultural trends will be like, but few of them are ever on the mark.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
take (or have) a punt at
have a go at; attempt. Australian & New Zealand informal 1998 Times: Magazine However cheerfully positive I can be about the future, the man from the Pru isn't going to take a punt on me living the full term.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
punt
(pənt) in. to do something different in a pinch; to improvise. (From the act of kicking the ball in order to gain ground in football.) Everyone expected me to lose my temper, so I punted. I cried instead of getting mad.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.