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pocketful

American  
[pok-it-fool] / ˈpɒk ɪtˌfʊl /

noun

  • pocketfuls
    plural
  1. the amount that a pocket will hold.


pocketful British  
/ ˈpɒkɪtfʊl /

noun

  1. as much as a pocket will hold

  2. informal a large amount

    it cost him a pocketful of money

"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

Spelling

See -ful.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of pocketful

First recorded in 1605–15; pocket + -ful

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

This week sees the release of his debut album, “Belamor,” a pocketful of intimate electro-pop gems from a queer Latino in exile.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 15, 2023

The April 13 Style article “A first-grader gets a pocketful of kudos after a letter to Old Navy goes viral” explained why first-grader Kamryn Gardner wanted pockets in her jeans.

From Washington Post Apr. 23, 2021

A pocketful of nukes intensifies the drama and puts North Korea center stage.

From Slate Oct. 13, 2020

Lucinda had a pocketful of dimes and quarters with a value of $6.20.

From Textbooks May 6, 2020

“To have so much money you don’t notice if a pocketful of Galleons goes missing.”

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

Mr Lake said Talbot accepted when he attended the property sore "he would take pocketfuls, as much as he could fit in his pockets".

From BBC Oct. 18, 2024

He’d won two pocketfuls of marbles last week, and he’d done the honorable thing and returned them all.

From The New Yorker Oct. 28, 2019

A group of Allied soldiers dig a tunnel out of a Nazi prison camp, pocketfuls of dirt at a time.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 2, 2019

Others, like physicist Jeff Gore, head of the advocacy group Citizens to Retire the Penny, are simply annoyed that we carry around pocketfuls of low-value coins, calling it “a big, horrible waste of time.”

From Salon Sep. 2, 2017

She is the natural, own great-grandmother of every child in the world, and her pocketfuls of treasures are his by right of inheritance.

From How to Tell Stories to Children, And Some Stories to Tell by Bryant, Sara Cone

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