sucker punch

• sucker-punch, suckerpunch

American English, from sucker (“dupe”) +‎ punch.

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sucker punch (plural sucker punches)

1. (also figurative) An unexpected punch or similar blow.
   • 1919 December 9, Louis H. Jaffe, “Murphy Put Away by Blow on Break”, in Evening Public Ledger‎^[1], volume VI, number 74, Philadelphia, Pa., archived from the original on 2016-11-06, page 19:

     Benjamin crossed his right, a short punch traveling less than six inches, as he and Murphy stepped back from the breakaway. Many of the spectators did not see the blow that laid the West Philadelphian low. It was a "sucker punch," as Nick Hayes would have it. Coming out of a clinch, Benjamin took one step backward, then stepped forward before Murphy lifted his arms, crossing his right simultaneously, and zowie-- it was curtains for one of the millions of heroes of the "Big Fight." Jimmy dropped back on his haunches. His eves appeared to be clear, and he knew what he wanted to do--but apparently couldn't do it.

   • 2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     The Championship highflyers almost got their reward for a resilient performance on their first visit to the Emirates, surviving a flurry of first-half Arsenal chances before hitting back with a classic sucker punch.

   • 2024 July 30, Anna Betts, quoting JD Vance, “Vance reportedly told donors Harris was threat in new blow to Trump campaign”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     The recorded audio of Vance telling donors at a fundraiser in Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Saturday that “all of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch” when the president, Joe Biden, withdrew from the 2024 race was leaked to the Washington Post.

2. A disabling punch targeting a place which is not normally acceptable in a "fair fight", such as on the back of the head.

   Synonym: rabbit punch

• coward punch
• haymaker
• king hit

sucker punch (third-person singular simple present sucker punches, present participle sucker punching, simple past and past participle sucker punched)

1. (transitive) To deliver an unexpected blow.
   • 1996, Larry Flynt, Kenneth Ross, An Unseemly Man, Los Angeles: Dove Books, →ISBN, page 57:

     We stared at each other for a moment. Then, without blinking, I sucker punched him as hard as I could. He fell but instantly came back at me, head down like a bull.

   • 2004, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, spoken by Steve Zissou (Bill Murray):

     You never say, "I'm gonna fight you, Steve." You just smile and act natural, and then you sucker-punch him.

   • 2020, Paul Orlousky, Punched, Kicked, Spat On, and Sometimes Thanked, Cleveland: Gray & Company, →ISBN:

     The threats never really bothered me. If someone is going to attack you, it will happen as you turn a street corner and get sucker punched.

• “sucker-punch n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• “sucker-punch v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• Eric Partridge (2005) “sucker-punch”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1898.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “suckerpunch”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.