paid out in cash or from one's own financial resources and sometimes reimbursed: My out-of-pocket travel expenses included taking business clients to dinner.
without funds or assets: an out-of-pocket student who stayed with us.
Origin of out-of-pocket
First recorded in 1880–85
pocket
[pok-it]
noun
a shaped piece of fabric attached inside or outside a garment and forming a pouch used especially for carrying small articles.
a bag or pouch.
means; financial resources: a selection of gifts to fit every pocket.
any pouchlike receptacle, compartment, hollow, or cavity.
an envelope, receptacle, etc., usually of heavy paper and open at one end, used for storing or preserving photographs, stamps, phonograph records, etc.: Each album has 12 pockets.
a recess, as in a wall, for receiving a sliding door, sash weights, etc.
any isolated group, area, element, etc., contrasted, as in status or condition, with a surrounding element or group: pockets of resistance; a pocket of poverty in the central city.
Mining.
a small orebody or mass of ore, frequently isolated.
a bin for ore or rock storage.
a raise or small slope fitted with chute gates.
Billiards, Pool. any of the pouches or bags at the corners and sides of the table.
a position in which a competitor in a race is so hemmed in by others that his or her progress is impeded.
Football. the area from which a quarterback throws a pass, usually a short distance behind the line of scrimmage and protected by a wall of blockers.
Bowling. the space between the headpin and the pin next behind to the left or right, taken as the target for a strike.
Baseball. the deepest part of a mitt or glove, roughly in the area around the center of the palm, where most balls are caught.
Nautical. a holder consisting of a strip of sailcloth sewed to a sail, and containing a thin wooden batten that stiffens the leech of the sail.
Anatomy. any saclike cavity in the body: a pus pocket.
(postpositive)having lost money, as in a commercial enterprise
without money to spend
(prenominal)(of expenses) unbudgeted and paid for in cash
pocket
noun
a small bag or pouch in a garment for carrying small articles, money, etc
any bag or pouch or anything resembling this
a cavity or hollow in the earth, etc, such as one containing gold or other ore
the ore in such a place
a small enclosed or isolated areaa pocket of resistance
billiardssnookerany of the six holes with pouches or nets let into the corners and sides of a billiard table
a position in a race in which a competitor is hemmed in
Australian rules footballa player in one of two side positions at the ends of the groundback pocket; forward pocket
Southern Africana bag or sack of vegetables or fruit
in one's pocketunder one's control
in pockethaving made a profit, as after a transaction
in the pocketrugby(of a fly half) in an attacking position slightly further back from play than normal, making himself available for a drop goal attempt
out of pockethaving made a loss, as after a transaction
line one's pocketsto make money, esp by dishonesty when in a position of trust
(modifier)suitable for fitting in a pocket; smalla pocket edition
(modifier)pokerslangdenoting a pair formed from the two private cards dealt to a player in a game of Texas hold 'empocket queens
verb-ets, -etingor-eted(tr)
to put into one's pocket
to take surreptitiously or unlawfully; steal
(usually passive)to enclose or confine in or as if in a pocket
to receive (an insult, injury, etc) without retaliating
to conceal or keep back (feelings)he pocketed his pride and accepted help
billiardssnookerto drive (a ball) into a pocket
US(esp of the President) to retain (a bill) without acting on it in order to prevent it from becoming lawSee also pocket veto
mid-14c., pokete, "bag, pouch, small sack," from Anglo-French pokete (13c.), diminutive of Old North French poque "bag" (Old French pouche), from a Germanic source akin to Frankish *pokka "bag," from Proto-Germanic *puk- (see poke (n.)).
Meaning "small bag worn on the person, especially one sewn into a garment" is from early 15c. Sense in billiards is from 1754. Mining sense is attested from 1850; military sense of "area held by troops surrounded by the enemy" is from 1918; the general sense of "small area different than its surroundings" (1926) apparently was extended from the military use. Figuratively, "one's money" (conceived as being kept in a pocket) is from 1717. Pope Pokett (late 15c.) was figurative of the greedy and corrupt Church.
pocket
v.
1580s, "to place in a pocket" (often with implications of dishonesty), from pocket (n.). From the earliest use often figurative. Meaning "to form pockets" is from c.1600. Related: Pocketed; pocketing.
pocket
adj.
1610s, "of or pertaining to or meant for a pocket," from pocket (n.). Pocket-knife is first recorded 1727; pocket-money is attested from 1630s. Often merely implying a small-sized version of something, e.g. of warships, from 1930, and cf. Pocket Venus "beautiful, small woman," attested from 1808. Pocket veto attested from 1842, American English.
The "pocket veto" can operate only in the case of bills sent to the President within ten days of Congressional adjournment. If he retain such a bill (figuratively, in his pocket) neither giving it his sanction by signing it, nor withholding his sanction in returning it to Congress, the bill is defeated. The President is not bound to give reasons for defeating a bill by a pocket veto which he has not had at least ten days to consider. In a regular veto he is bound to give such reasons. [James Albert Woodburn, "The American Republic and its Government," Putnam's, 1903]
Lacking money; also, having suffered a financial loss, as in We can't go; I'm out of pocket right now. William Congreve had it in The Old Bachelor (1693): “But egad, I'm a little out of pocket at present.” [Late 1600s]
2
Referring to actual money spent, as in I had to pay the hotel bill out of pocket, but I know I'll be reimbursed. This expression sometimes occurs as a hyphenated adjective mainly in the phrase out-of-pocket expenses, as in My out-of-pocket expenses for business travel amounted to more than a thousand dollars. [Late 1800s]
