pouch

American  

[pouch] / paʊtʃ /

noun

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

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have pouched
  perfect
• has pouched
  perfect 3rd person singular
• are pouching
  progressive
• has been pouching
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• am pouching
  progressive 1st person singular
• pouching
  participle
• have been pouching
  perfect progressive
• is pouching
  progressive 3rd person singular
• pouches
  singular 3rd person

Past

• had pouched
  perfect
• had been pouching
  perfect progressive
• pouched
  simple
• was pouching
  progressive singular
• were pouching
  progressive plural
• pouched
  participle

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

A staffer for Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered a Kennedy aide a tobacco pouch from a custom gold tin at a dinner in Washington this spring.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026

"I feel like if I have a pouch, it will stop me going on my phone a lot and checking it."

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

In the second box, I find a set of three knives wrapped in a leather pouch.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Related Words

• bag
• pocket
• purse