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Glite Dictionary
🖨️ A data recorder 👩‍💻 A data typist ⌨️ To enter data
keypunch

keypunch

9.2
A machine that makes holes in cards or paper tape to record computer data
  • noun
  • /ˈkiːˌpʌnʧ/
  • Archaic
translation icon : máquina de perforación
  • In the past, we relied on a keypunch machine to create the necessary punch cards for data entry.

Examples

  • You typed out your stack of punch cards on a keypunch machine, turned them in to be run, and hoped to get the output back that afternoon.

    Blog text (19)

  • The technician fed the blank cards into the keypunch machine to prepare them for data recording.

  • For a medium-sized location such as a bank data processing center, you probably had 15 guys that just babysat the hard drives, tape drives, printers, card punches, card readers, keypunch machines, the CPU, and the comms system to interface with the big beasties.

    Blog text (9)

  • Before computers became popular, businesses used a keypunch to program their data onto cards.

Surface Forms

keypunch singular
keypunches plural

Morphology

keypunch = key + punch (transparent) = key + punch

The meaning is transparently the compound of 'key' (keyboard lever) + 'punch' (device for making holes): a machine that punches cards via keys.

Etymology

Keypunch comes from the simple idea of key ('a button on a keyboard') plus punch ('to make a hole'). It names a machine that uses keys to 'punch' holes in cards to record data, so the word tells you exactly what the machine does.