poke1
- to prod or push, especially with something narrow or pointed, as a finger, elbow, stick, etc.: to poke someone in the ribs.
- to make (a hole, one's way, etc.) by or as by prodding or pushing.
- to thrust or push: She poked her head out of the window.
- to force, drive, or stir by or as by pushing or thrusting: He poked the fire up.
- to thrust obtrusively: The prosecutor kept poking his finger at the defendant.
- to make a pushing or thrusting movement with the finger, a stick, etc.
- to extend or project (often followed by out): His handkerchief is poking out of his back pocket.
- to thrust oneself obtrusively: to poke into something that is not one's affair.
- to search curiously; pry (often followed by around or about).
- to go or proceed in a slow or aimless way (often followed by along).
- a thrust or push.
- Informal. a slow or dawdling person; slowpoke.
- poke fun at, to ridicule or mock, especially covertly or slyly: In her novel, she pokes fun at her ex-husband.
- poke one's nose into, Informal. to meddle in; pry into: We felt as if half the people in town were poking their noses into our lives.
Origin of poke1
poke2
- Chiefly Midland U.S. and Scot.. a bag or sack, especially a small one.
- a wallet or purse.
- Archaic. a pocket.
Origin of poke2
poke3
- a projecting brim at the front of a bonnet, framing the face.
- Also called poke bonnet. a bonnet or hat with such a brim.
Origin of poke3
poke4
Origin of poke4
Examples from the Web for poke
Contemporary Examples
These tests prod and poke the children, creating lots of anxiety and taking away from the joy of learning.
People online have been attempting to poke holes in the science of Interstellar.
Christopher Nolan Uncut: On ‘Interstellar,’ Ben Affleck’s Batman, and the Future of MankindMarlow Stern
November 10, 2014
But when the pageant itself starts to poke fun at the contestants, organizers should expect that they will lose all credibility.
Poke center of Italian sausages with chopstick to make well, fill with chocolate syrup and twist the open end of the sausage.
Epic Meal Empire’s Meat Monstrosities: From the Bacon Spider to the CinnabattleshipHarley Morenstein
July 26, 2014
The building is festooned with cartoon-like images of fish, including dorsal fins that poke out of the roof.
Historical Examples
I've been scared about Dirk ever since; and now he won't go to Poke's!
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
He'll be suspicious if we begin to poke about the north wing.
The Inn at the Red OakLatta Griswold
Nothing in the world would have induced them to poke their noses out of the window.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
I found a pretty cluster at the foot of a maple stump in Poke Hollow.
The Mushroom, Edible and OtherwiseM. E. Hard
If I tell you what I want to, will you promise not to pitch into me, and not to nag and poke fun?
Cap'n EriJoseph Crosby Lincoln
poke1
- (tr) to jab or prod, as with the elbow, the finger, a stick, etc
- (tr) to make (a hole, opening, etc) by or as by poking
- (when intr, often foll by at) to thrust (at)
- (tr) informal to hit with the fist; punch
- (usually foll by in, out, out of, through, etc) to protrude or cause to protrudedon't poke your arm out of the window
- (tr) to stir (a fire, pot, etc) by poking
- (intr) to meddle or intrude
- (intr; often foll by about or around) to search or pry
- (intr often foll by along) to loiter, potter, dawdle, etc
- (tr) slang (of a man) to have sexual intercourse with
- poke fun at to mock or ridicule
- poke one's nose into See nose (def. 17)
- a jab or prod
- short for slowpoke
- informal a blow with one's fist; punch
- slang sexual intercourse
Word Origin
poke2
- dialect a pocket or bag
- a pig in a poke See pig (def. 9)
Word Origin
poke3
- Also called: poke bonnet a woman's bonnet with a brim that projects at the front, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries
- the brim itself
Word Origin
poke4
- short for pokeweed
Word Origin and History for poke
v.
"to push, prod, thrust," especially with something pointed, c.1300, puken "to poke, nudge," of uncertain origin, perhaps from or related to Middle Dutch poken "to poke" (Dutch beuken), or Middle Low German poken "to stick with a knife" (cf. German pochen "to knock, rap"), both from Proto-Germanic root *puk-, perhaps imitative. Related: Poked; poking. To poke fun "tease" first attested 1840; to poke around "search" is from 1809. To poke along "advance lazily; walk at a leisurely pace" is from 1833.
n.1
"small sack," early 13c., probably from Old North French poque (12c., Old French poche) "purse, poke, purse-net," probably from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *puk- (cf. Old English pohha, pocca "bag, pocket," Middle Dutch poke, Old Norse poki "bag, pouch, pocket," dialectal German Pfoch), from PIE root *beu-, an imitative root associated with words for "to swell" (see bull (n.2)).
n.2
"pokeweed; a weed used in medicine and dyeing," colonial American, from native words, possibly a confusion of similar-sounding Native American plant names; from 1630s in English as "tobacco plant," short for uppowoc (1580s), from Algonquian (Virginia) *uppowoc. Later (1708) the word is used in the sense "pokeweed," as a shortened form of puccoon, from Algonquian (Virginia) *puccoon, name of a plant used for dyeing." Native roots for "smoke" and "stain" have been proposed as the origin or origins.
n.3
"an act of poking," 1796, originally pugilistic slang, from poke (v.). Also (1809) the name of a device, like a yoke with a pole, attached to domestic animals such as pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping enclosures. Hence slowpoke, and cf. pokey. Slang sense "act of sexual intercourse" is attested from 1902.
Idioms and Phrases with poke
poke
In addition to the idioms beginning with poke
- poke around
- poke fun at
- poke one's nose into
also see:
- make fun of (poke fun at)
- pig in a poke
- take a poke at