Link Centre Dictionary

poke

UK/ˈpoʊkeɪ/ US/ˈpoʊki/ fairly common informal slang us
verb (5) noun (4)

verb

1.

poke or thrust abruptly

  • “he jabbed his finger into her ribs”
Synonyms
2.

search or inquire in a meddlesome way

  • “This guy is always nosing around the office”
Synonyms
3.

stir by poking

  • “poke the embers in the fireplace”
4.

hit hard with the hand, fist, or some heavy instrument

  • “the salesman pounded the door knocker”
  • “a bible-thumping Southern Baptist”
Synonyms
5.

noun

1.

tall coarse perennial American herb having small white flowers followed by blackish-red berries on long drooping racemes; young fleshy stems are edible; berries and root are poisonous

Synonyms
2.

a bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer''s purchases

Synonyms
3.

a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)

  • “he warned me with a jab with his finger”
  • “he made a thrusting motion with his fist”
Synonyms
4.

(boxing) a blow with the fist

  • “I gave him a clout on his nose”
Synonyms

Origin

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. Compare Nordic cognates Swedish påka (“to poke, muck with a stick”), påk (“club, limb; dagger”), pykel (“small poker”), dialectal Norwegian pauka (“to walk stomping, etc”), pauk (“weak, slow person”). Central European noun-cognates refer to “dagger, bad knife, poker (for a fireplace)”, with analog verbs. To a Proto-Germanic *pauk-, *puk-, meanig, “to stick, muck with a stick”.

Phrases

  • 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
  • buy a pig in a poke
  • holy poke
  • killer poke
  • nose poke
  • pig in a poke

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.