pock

American  

[pok] / pɒk /

noun

1. a pustule on the body in an eruptive disease, as smallpox.

2. a mark or spot left by or resembling such a pustule.

3. a small indentation, pit, hole, or the like.

4. Scot. poke.

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pock British  

/ pɒk /

noun

1. any pustule resulting from an eruptive disease, esp from smallpox

2. another word for pockmark

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Other Word Forms

• pocky adjective

Etymology

Origin of pock

before 1000; Middle English pokke, Old English poc; cognate with German Pocke; perhaps akin to Old English pocca. See poke ²

Example Sentences

Across a running time tied to the shifting seasons, pocked by images of breathtaking beauty, Pálmason is after a feeling that only patient observance yields: a lasting reality about the passing of relationships.

From Los Angeles Times

While the table was covered in roses and moss, and its wood had been pocked with woodworm, the boat looked as fresh as if it had been newly varnished.

From Literature

Her father could no longer work in the coal mines that pock the mountains here after an injury.

From The Wall Street Journal

Binnington, who took the historic puck from Ovechkin's goal and pocked it before a linesman retrieved it from him, was pulled after surrendering four goals in just under 30 minutes.

From Barron's

A hiker clambers across a scorched landscape of ash, his footsteps crunching on charred earth as he peers over a ridge at a burn scar pocked with blackened stumps.

From Los Angeles Times