bunt¹ / bənt/ • v. [tr.] Baseball (of a batter) gently tap (a pitched ball) without swinging in an attempt to make it more difficult to field: the batter tried to bunt the ball down the first baseline. ∎  (of a batter) help (a base runner) to progress to a further base by tapping a ball in such a way: he bunted Davis to third.• n. Baseball an act or result of tapping a pitched ball in such a way.bunt² • n. the baggy center of a fishing net or a sail.bunt² • n. a disease of wheat caused by a smut fungus (Tilletia caries), the spores of which give off a smell of rotten fish.

bunt (stinking smut) Common bunt is a seed-borne disease of wheat (and other grasses) caused by Tilletia caries or T. foetida (T. laevis). The grain in an infected ear of wheat is replaced by masses of fungal spores which have a characteristic fishy smell; the spores are released when the wheat crop is harvested. Dwarf bunt is a similar disease caused by T. contraversa (T. brevifaciens). Karnal bunt is caused by Neovossia indica (Tilletia indica); it occurs in northern India, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.

bunt(stinking smut) Common bunt is a seed-borne disease of wheat (and other grasses) caused by Tilletia caries or T. foetida (T. laevis). The grain in an infected ear of wheat is replaced by masses of fungal spores which have a characteristic fishy smell; the spores are released when the wheat crop is harvested. Dwarf bunt is a similar disease caused by T. contraversa (T. brevifaciens). Karnal bunt is caused by Neovossia indica (Tilletia indica); it occurs in northern India, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.

bunt See smut.

bunt1 baggy part of a sail, net, etc. XVI. of unkn. orig.