punch in

punch in idiom
  1. Also, punch a or the clock. Check in at a job upon arrival, as in You have to punch in or you won't get paid, or In this office no one has to punch a clock. This usage alludes to the use of a time clock, which has a button an employee punches or strikes to record the time of arrival on a card. [1920s] Also see punch out, def. 1.
  2. Keyboard data into a computer, as in He was careful about punching in all the payments. [Mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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