poky

[ poh-kee ]
See synonyms for poky on Thesaurus.com
adjective,pok·i·er, pok·i·est.Informal.
  1. moving or acting slowly or ineffectively; slow; dull: poky drivers.

  2. (of a place) small and cramped: a poky little room.

  1. (of dress) dowdy.

Origin of poky

1
First recorded in 1825–30; poke1 + -y1

Other words from poky

  • pok·i·ly, adverb
  • pok·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use poky in a sentence

  • Of all the mean things that ever was the pokiest long time in unwrapping its wings, this butterfly's the meanest.

    Ting-a-ling | Frank Richard Stockton
  • Why, you've got the pokiest crowd over here I ever heard of.

    Gabriel Tolliver | Joel Chandler Harris
  • And it was the pokiest, most rubbishy, lackadaisical village I ever saw.

    The Mission of Janice Day | Helen Beecher Long

British Dictionary definitions for poky

poky

pokey

/ (ˈpəʊkɪ) /


adjectivepokier or pokiest
  1. informal (esp of rooms) small and cramped

  2. without speed or energy; slow

noun
  1. the poky mainly US and Canadian slang prison

Origin of poky

1
C19: from poke 1 (in slang sense: to confine)

Derived forms of poky

  • pokily, adverb
  • pokiness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012