pouch

American  

[pouch] / paʊtʃ /

noun

pouches plural

1. a bag, sack, or similar receptacle, especially one for small articles or quantities.

   a tobacco pouch.

2. a small moneybag.

3. a bag for carrying mail.

4. a bag or case of leather, used by soldiers to carry ammunition.

5. something shaped like or resembling a bag or pocket.

6. Chiefly Scot. a pocket in a garment.

7. a baggy fold of flesh under the eye.

8. Anatomy, Zoology. a baglike or pocketlike part; a sac or cyst, as the sac beneath the bill of pelicans, the saclike dilation of the cheeks of gophers, or the receptacle for the young of marsupials.

9. Botany. a baglike cavity.

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verb (used with object)

pouches, present (3rd person singular) pouched, past participle, past pouching present participle

1. to put into or enclose in a pouch, bag, or pocket; pocket.

2. to arrange in the form of a pouch.

3. (of a fish or bird) to swallow.

verb (used without object)

pouches, present (3rd person singular) pouched, past participle, past pouching present participle

1. to form a pouch or a cavity resembling a pouch.

pouch British  

/ paʊtʃ /

noun

1. a small flexible baglike container

   a tobacco pouch

2. a saclike structure in any of various animals, such as the abdominal receptacle marsupium in marsupials or the cheek fold in rodents

3. anatomy any sac, pocket, or pouchlike cavity or space in an organ or part

4. another word for mailbag

5. a Scot word for pocket

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verb

1. (tr) to place in or as if in a pouch

2. to arrange or become arranged in a pouchlike form

3. (tr) (of certain birds and fishes) to swallow

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pouchy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pouches
  plural

Participles

• pouching
  present
• pouched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pouch
  simple
• pouches
  simple
• have pouched
  perfect
• has pouched
  perfect
• am pouching
  progressive
• are pouching
  progressive
• is pouching
  progressive
• have been pouching
  perfect progressive
• has been pouching
  perfect progressive

Past

• pouched
  simple
• had pouched
  perfect
• was pouching
  progressive
• were pouching
  progressive
• had been pouching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pouch
  simple
• will have pouched
  perfect
• will be pouching
  progressive
• will have been pouching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pouch

1350–1400; Middle English pouche < Anglo-French, variant of Old French poche; also poke, poque bag. See poke ²

Explanation

A pouch is a small container or bag, like the pouch full of dog treats you carry when you take your new puppy to obedience school. Sit! Stay! Good boy. It used to be much more common for people to carry things around in pouches for safety and convenience — money pouches, mail pouches, tobacco pouches, and so on. Often these were drawstring bags that cinched securely at the top. The word came to be used for other things with a similar shape, including animal cavities meant for carrying babies (think a kangaroo's pouch) and various pocket-shaped receptacles.

Example Sentences

“Let’s not have him shake his head,” said Rae, as she leaned closer toward the screen displaying the vertical video feed of the father eating from a bright yellow pouch of Gushers.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026

Carlson and Patel also launched a precious metals company and a nicotine pouch company.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

EV batteries come in different forms—cylindrical, pouch and prismatic—but grid-scale batteries tend to just be prismatic, a rectangular shape that can be stacked.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

The signal-blocking pouch removes the "temptation" for students, he says, allowing them to be "absolutely focused on learning", as well as "face-to-face contact and social interaction".

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026

I grabbed up the third and fourth seeds, hid them in my cheek pouch, then stopped right outside the open door of my cage.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

Related Words

• bag
• pocket
• purse