English Explanatory Dictionary

poke

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick.
  2. To stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning.
  3. To rummage; to feel or grope around.
  4. To modify the value stored in (a memory address).
  5. To put a poke (device to prevent leaping or breaking fences) on (an animal).
  6. To thrust at with the horns; to gore.
  7. To notify (another user) of activity on social media or an instant messenger.
  8. To thrust (something) in a particular direction such as the tongue.
  9. To penetrate in sexual intercourse.
noun
  1. A prod, jab, or thrust.
  2. A lazy person; a dawdler.
  3. A stupid or uninteresting person.
  4. An old, worn-out horse.
  5. A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.
  6. The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game.
  7. A notification sent to get another user's attention on social media or an instant messenger.
  8. A poke bonnet.
  9. A hit, especially an extra base hit.
noun
  1. A sack or bag, especially a paper bag.
  2. A long, wide sleeve.
  3. An ice cream cone or a bag of chips
noun
  1. Pokeweed, and its berries.
noun
  1. Slices or cubes of raw fish or other raw seafood, mixed with sesame oil, seaweed, sea salt, herbs, spices, or other flavorful ingredients.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

pōk /pəʊk/ /poʊk/ en-au-poke.ogg /ˈpoʊkeɪ/ /ˈpoʊki/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-poke.wav

Word forms

poke pokes poking poked poké

Etymology

From Middle English poken, perhaps from Middle Dutch poken or Middle Low German poken, both from Proto-West Germanic *pukōn or similar, which is itself of uncertain origin, but may be from an imitative Proto-Germanic root *puk-. Doublet of poach.

Synonyms

fumble glaum root feel around scrabble fish forage scramble grabble grope grubble poke drill nail pound Formal terms bed coit coitize dight enjoy feague go in unto go to bed with have know lie by lie with love mount occupy penetrate season seduce sleep with take Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with" Informal and slang terms ball bang bauf beep be with bone boff boink bonk boom-boom dick diddle dig out do doink eff expletive deleted fill frack frak frick frig

Related words

ceviche crudo

Derived words

cowpoke more than one can poke a stick at pokable poke about poke along poke around poke bonnet poke borack poke borax poke box poke fun poke holes in poke mullock poke one's fun poke one's nose into poke out poker poke someone's eye out poke the bear stick-and-poke toepoke unpoked you don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire better than a poke in the eye better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick blow poke gunpoke killer poke nose poke slow poke slowpoke buy a pig in a poke holy poke meal-poke pig in a poke pocket pokeful shitepoke pokeberry pokeroot poke salad pokeweed poke bowl

Translations

Afrikaans: uitsteek Finnish: tökätä Māori: whātero Norwegian: geipe
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary