Definition of "punty" []

• An iron rod on which molten glass is handled when being shaped and worked. Also called pontil. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Hickory, twirling colour into a glowing paperweight on the end of a slender five-foot-long steel rod called a punty iron, looked extremely relieved at my return from the races."
• "A punty - a steel rod with a small glass blob - aids the production."
• "Having pulled out one of the punty irons that I'd put to heat beside the active part of the furnace, Rose thrust it into the crucible - the tank - holding now white-hot glass, and drew it out, a reasonably sized gather, revolving it just speedily enough for it not to fall off onto the floor."