Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An iron rod used in glass-making for handling, and especially for revolving rapidly, the soft glass in the process of formation, especially in the making of crown-glass.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as pontee.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun glassblowing A punty; a metal rod used in the glassblowing process. After a glass vessel has been blown to approximate size and the bottom of the piece has been finalized, the rod, which is tipped with a wad of hot glass, is attached to the bottom of the vessel to hold it while the top is finalized. It often leaves an irregular or ring-shaped scar on the base when removed called the "pontil mark".

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, possibly from Italian puntello, diminutive of punto, point, from Latin pūnctum, from neuter past participle of pungere, to prick; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French pontil, from Italian pontello or puntello, dim. of punto, from Latin punctum ("a point")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pontil.

Examples

  • "You shall see, for here is a pot just opened, and this man with the long iron rod, called a pontil, or punty, in his hand, is about to skim it."

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

  • The cute little pontil scar measured one cubic centimeter, the same, on the average, as the human navel that it resembled.

    La insistencia de Jürgen Fauth 2010

  • On the bottom of the bottle was a scar not unlike an umbilicus, where an iron pontil rod had held the hot, freshly blown bottle while its neck was being shaped.

    La insistencia de Jürgen Fauth 2010

  • Large, thick-walled container in blue-green glass with no pontil mark on the base and a rough, fire rounded rim, indicating that this piece dates back to the first half of the first century A.D.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Glass Studies Report 1 2003

  • An attendant then presented to him a lump of melted glass on the end of his pontil, and the workman, deftly twisting it round the neck of his decanter, clipped it off with a pair of scissors, and proceeded to smooth and shape it by means of the plyers.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

  • After this it might be used in its simple condition, or ornamented with engraving, while the bottom of the foot, still rough from contact with the pontil, was to be ground, smoothed, and then polished.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

  • The finishing over, another stick was thrust inside the lantern, and it was separated from the pontil by the application of a bit of cold iron.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

  • It was here suffered to cool for some moments, and then, by means of a pontil tipped with molten glass, carried away to be fire-polished.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

  • Following the steps of the young wide-awake, Miselle saw him deliver the pontil, with the lantern still attached, to a listless individual seated upon a bench whose long iron arms projected far in front of him, while an idle pontil lay across them.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

  • To the end of this the assistant now touched his pontil, upon whose end he had taken up a little more glass, and this, being twisted in a ring round the foot of the stem, divided from the pontil by a huge pair of scissors, dexterously shaped with the plyers, and finally smoothed with a battledoor, became the foot of the wine-glass.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Various

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • In glassmaking, a solid metal rod usually tipped with a wad of hot glass, then applied to the base of a vessel to hold it during manufacture. It often leaves an irregular or ring-shaped scar on the base when removed. The scar is called the pontil mark. A pontil is also called a punty.

    November 9, 2007

  • We're shaped by reproach and by counsel,

    Though praise will do more than a taunt will.

    A good mentor's mark

    Must never be stark

    And mar us no more than a pontil.

    June 19, 2015