poke1

[pohk] /poʊk/
verb (used with object), poked, poking.
1.
to prod or push, especially with something narrow or pointed, as a finger, elbow, stick, etc.:
to poke someone in the ribs.
2.
to make (a hole, one's way, etc.) by or as by prodding or pushing.
3.
to thrust or push:
She poked her head out of the window.
4.
to force, drive, or stir by or as by pushing or thrusting:
He poked the fire up.
5.
to thrust obtrusively:
The prosecutor kept poking his finger at the defendant.
verb (used without object), poked, poking.
6.
to make a pushing or thrusting movement with the finger, a stick, etc.
7.
to extend or project (often followed by out):
His handkerchief is poking out of his back pocket.
8.
to thrust oneself obtrusively:
to poke into something that is not one's affair.
9.
to search curiously; pry (often followed by around or about).
10.
to go or proceed in a slow or aimless way (often followed by along).
noun
11.
a thrust or push.
12.
Informal. a slow or dawdling person; slowpoke.
Idioms
13.
poke fun at, to ridicule or mock, especially covertly or slyly:
In her novel, she pokes fun at her ex-husband.
14.
poke one's nose into, Informal. to meddle in; pry into:
We felt as if half the people in town were poking their noses into our lives.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English < Middle Dutch, Middle Low German poken to thrust. See poach1
Related forms
pokable, adjective

poke2

[pohk] /poʊk/
noun
1.
Chiefly Midland U.S. and Scot. a bag or sack, especially a small one.
2.
a wallet or purse.
3.
Archaic. a pocket.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English < Middle Dutch, whence also Old North French poque, French poche bag, pocket; cf. poach2, pocket, pouch

poke3

[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.
Origin
1760-70; apparently special use of poke1

poke4

[pohk] /poʊk/
noun
1.
pokeweed.
Origin
1590-1600; perhaps shortening of obsolete pocan pokeweed, perhaps variant of puccoon (pokeberries and puccoon roots were both sources of red dye)
Examples from the web for poke
  • Remove the condom from its package, being careful not to tear or poke a hole in it while opening the package.
  • It's easy to poke fun at professors who depart from scholarly writing to tell the stories of their lives.
  • All of which would be expected to make for a preachy, smug volume, in which scientists haughtily poke fun at the foolish.
  • They poke out into the photosphere as loops, prominences, and those enigmatic signposts of solar activity-sunspots.
  • As the vine grows, poke protruding branches back inside the cylinder.
  • Students later decided to hold a demonstration to poke fun at the outcome of their previous protest.
  • They are not for foreigners to poke their noses into.
  • poke around historic villages, take in a concert, or pull up a pub chair.
  • Then try to poke holes in the models and measurements.
  • Some of these productions have religious or historical themes, some are satirical and poke fun at our unique culture.
British Dictionary definitions for poke

poke1

/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
Word Origin
C14: from Low German and Middle Dutch poken to thrust, prod, strike

poke2

/pəʊk/
noun
1.
(dialect) a pocket or bag
2.
a pig in a poke, See pig (sense 9)
Word Origin
C13: from Old Northern French poque, of Germanic origin; related to Old English pocca bag, Old Norse pokipouch, Middle Dutch poke bag; compare poach²

poke3

/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
Word Origin
C18: from poke1 (in the sense: to thrust out, project)

poke4

/pəʊk/
noun
1.
short for pokeweed
Word Origin and History for poke
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.

Slang definitions & phrases for poke

poke 1

noun
  1. A cowboy: Each poke pays his own transportation to the Rodeo (1928+)
  2. slowpoke (1940s+)
  3. The sex act; piece of ass (1700+)
verb
  1. To herd cattle (1940s+)
  2. To hit the ball, esp to hit fairly lightly with precise aim: He just poked it into the hole (1880s+ Baseball)
  3. To do the sex act with or to; screw (1868+)
Related Terms

buy a pig in a poke, cowpuncher


poke 2

noun
  1. A wallet, pocket, or purse: with only about $85 in my poke (1859+)
  2. Money; one's bankroll (1926+)

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


poke in Technology


The BASIC command to write a value to an absolute address.
See peek.
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)

Idioms and Phrases with poke

poke

also see: