pokey

American  

[poh-kee] / ˈpoʊ ki /

noun

Slang.

pokeys plural

1. Usually the pokey a jail.

   They put him in the pokey for carrying a concealed weapon.

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Usage

What does pokey mean? Pokey is a slang term for jail. It’s typically used with the article the, as in Sal got arrested and spent a night in the pokey. Pokey can also be used to describe someone or something that moves slowly. This sense of word is intended to be negative or insulting. Less commonly, it can be used as an adjective meaning small and cramped, as in There’s no way we can have a party in this pokey little apartment. Pokey can also be spelled poky. Example: If it were up to me, all these pokey drivers would spend a night in the pokey—the pokier the cell the better.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pokeys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pokey

First recorded in 1915–20; origin uncertain; possibly a variant of pogey ( def. )

Example Sentences

Like the movie, whose commercial and critical success suggests people approve, it’s pokey and self-serious and almost entirely devoid of humor.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2024

Give me your losers and laggards, your pokey puppies who limbo right under rock-bottom expectations and then have to go home and lie down.

From New York Times • May 18, 2024

Family and adult-only fun include roller disco night and open skate hours with the hokey pokey, limbo and partner skate events.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 12, 2023

While Proud Boys yelled and shoved outside the entrance, the children inside Loyalty Bookstores laughed, did the hokey pokey and danced as drag queen Charlemagne Chateau, dressed as a princess, read stories, they said.

From Washington Post • Feb. 21, 2023

“Put your left foot in and shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey, and you turn yourself around,” Lou Ann sings along.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko