Search

[pohk] /poʊk/

noun
1.
a projecting brim at the front of a bonnet, framing the face.
2.
Also called poke bonnet. a bonnet or hat with such a brim.
/pəʊk/
verb
1.
(transitive) to jab or prod, as with the elbow, the finger, a stick, etc
2.
(transitive) to make (a hole, opening, etc) by or as by poking
3.
when intr, often foll by at. to thrust (at)
4.
(transitive) (informal) to hit with the fist; punch
5.
usually foll by in, out, out of, through, etc. to protrude or cause to protrude: don’t poke your arm out of the window
6.
(transitive) to stir (a fire, pot, etc) by poking
7.
(intransitive) to meddle or intrude
8.
(intransitive; often foll by about or around) to search or pry
9.
(intransitive) often foll by along. to loiter, potter, dawdle, etc
10.
(transitive) (slang) (of a man) to have sexual intercourse with
11.
poke fun at, to mock or ridicule
12.
poke one’s nose into, See nose (sense 17)
noun
13.
a jab or prod
14.
short for slowpoke
15.
(informal) a blow with one’s fist; punch
16.
(slang) sexual intercourse
/pəʊk/
noun
1.
(dialect) a pocket or bag
2.
a pig in a poke, See pig (sense 9)
/pəʊk/
noun
1.
Also called poke bonnet. a woman’s bonnet with a brim that projects at the front, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries
2.
the brim itself
/pəʊk/
noun
1.
short for pokeweed
v.

“to push, prod, thrust,” especially with something pointed, c.1300, puken “to poke, nudge,” of uncertain origin, perhaps from or related to Middle Dutch poken “to poke” (Dutch beuken), or Middle Low German poken “to stick with a knife” (cf. German pochen “to knock, rap”), both from Proto-Germanic root *puk-, perhaps imitative. Related: Poked; poking. To poke fun “tease” first attested 1840; to poke around “search” is from 1809. To poke along “advance lazily; walk at a leisurely pace” is from 1833.
n.

“small sack,” early 13c., probably from Old North French poque (12c., Old French poche) “purse, poke, purse-net,” probably from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *puk- (cf. Old English pohha, pocca “bag, pocket,” Middle Dutch poke, Old Norse poki “bag, pouch, pocket,” dialectal German Pfoch), from PIE root *beu-, an imitative root associated with words for “to swell” (see bull (n.2)).

“pokeweed; a weed used in medicine and dyeing,” colonial American, from native words, possibly a confusion of similar-sounding Native American plant names; from 1630s in English as “tobacco plant,” short for uppowoc (1580s), from Algonquian (Virginia) *uppowoc. Later (1708) the word is used in the sense “pokeweed,” as a shortened form of puccoon, from Algonquian (Virginia) *puccoon, name of a plant used for dyeing.” Native roots for “smoke” and “stain” have been proposed as the origin or origins.

“an act of poking,” 1796, originally pugilistic slang, from poke (v.). Also (1809) the name of a device, like a yoke with a pole, attached to domestic animals such as pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping enclosures. Hence slowpoke, and cf. pokey. Slang sense “act of sexual intercourse” is attested from 1902.

noun

verb

Related Terms

buy a pig in a poke, cowpuncher

noun

[fr Southern dialect, ”pocket, bag,” fr Middle English, ultimately fr Old Norman French]