punch card

American

Or punchcard,

noun

a card having holes punched in specific positions and patterns so as to represent data to be stored or processed mechanically, electrically, or photoelectrically.

Etymology

Origin of punch card

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Traditional punch cards have gone by the wayside because they treat infrequent visitors and heavy spenders the same, which leave top customers feeling underappreciated, says Evercore ISI analyst David Palmer.

From Barron's

She went to her computer and wrote some code, walked a set of punch cards to the mainframe in another building, and waited while it slugged through the calculations.

From Literature

Cornell was an early adopter of mainframes and his professor mentors were moving from punch cards to mainframe batch processing.

From The Wall Street Journal

Store loyalty programs have evolved beyond simple punch cards.

From MarketWatch

Store loyalty programs used to be simple: You’d get a punch card at a local sub shop, buy eight sandwiches and get your ninth for free.

From MarketWatch

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023