puntillero

[ poon-tee-air-oh; Spanish poon-tee-lye-raw, -ye- ]

noun

, plural pun·til·le·ros [poon-tee-, air, -ohz, poon-tee-, lye, -, r, aws, -, ye, -].

1. (in bullfighting) a worker, or assistant, who gives the coup de grâce to the fallen bull with a puntilla.

Word History and Origins

Origin of puntillero¹

1905–10; < Spanish, equivalent to puntill ( a ) puntilla + -ero < Latin -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

But often half-a-dozen lunges are made, till at last the red, tottering brute kneels down peacefully from sheer inability to stand, and the puntillero comes up behind and writes the end with one short stab of his iron dagger behind the skull.

From Project Gutenberg