pouch
Americannoun
-
pouches
plural
-
a bag, sack, or similar receptacle, especially one for small articles or quantities.
a tobacco pouch.
-
a small moneybag.
-
a bag for carrying mail.
-
a bag or case of leather, used by soldiers to carry ammunition.
-
something shaped like or resembling a bag or pocket.
-
Chiefly Scot. a pocket in a garment.
-
a baggy fold of flesh under the eye.
-
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.
-
Botany. a baglike cavity.
verb (used with object)
-
pouches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pouched,
past participle, past
-
pouching
present participle
-
to put into or enclose in a pouch, bag, or pocket; pocket.
-
to arrange in the form of a pouch.
-
(of a fish or bird) to swallow.
verb (used without object)
-
pouches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pouched,
past participle, past
-
pouching
present participle
noun
-
a small flexible baglike container
a tobacco pouch
-
a saclike structure in any of various animals, such as the abdominal receptacle marsupium in marsupials or the cheek fold in rodents
-
anatomy any sac, pocket, or pouchlike cavity or space in an organ or part
-
another word for mailbag
-
a Scot word for pocket
verb
-
(tr) to place in or as if in a pouch
-
to arrange or become arranged in a pouchlike form
-
(tr) (of certain birds and fishes) to swallow
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pouchsimple
-
pouchessimple
-
have pouchedperfect
-
has pouchedperfect
-
am pouchingprogressive
-
are pouchingprogressive
-
is pouchingprogressive
-
have been pouchingperfect progressive
-
has been pouchingperfect progressive
Past
-
pouchedsimple
-
had pouchedperfect
-
was pouchingprogressive
-
were pouchingprogressive
-
had been pouchingperfect progressive
Future
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
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:
There’s a neon-yellow China Airlines collaboration with the North Face and a square black Singapore Airlines pouch that comes with a Lalique candle and a warning: DO NOT USE IN AIRCRAFT.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
“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
"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
Most said they had to be kept in bags throughout the day, while seven used a pouch system similar to the one piloted at Islwyn High.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
‘I’ve still got some yarrow leaves,’ he said, fumbling for his medicine pouch with his free hand.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Travel enthusiasts accrue the free travel-sized toiletry pouches by the dozens, even hundreds; ‘I love every single one.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Emma said people with pouches could be self-conscious and sensitive and may be particularly concerned about being embarrassed during security checks.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
One workshop featured the creation of “mini moon bags,” modeled after pouches from the Soviet Hippie collection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Though there have been stories about kids cutting through the pouches or duping administrators by putting in decoy phones, those troublemakers amount to only a small percentage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
“Did they embroider slippers and tobacco pouches and hat-bands and things for you?” asked Edna.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
He estimates roughly 85 CoreWeave employees have been pouched by OpenAI and Anthropic this year alone.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
There was a wait to see if Jurel had pouched the catch, but there was no doubt.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
African giant pouched rats are the largest rats in the world.
From NewsForKids.net ● Nov. 28, 2024
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was summoned and pouched a return catch off Foakes and when Shoaib Bashir was caught behind off Mukesh Kumar, Ashwin was given another shot at the milestone.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2024
Her hair was mostly grey, now, and her face was pouched, and wrinkled at the throat and eyes and at the corners of the mouth.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
The district has left the choreography of pouching — and policing — to the schools.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2025
Two overs later De Villiers fell in similar fashion for 40, David Warner pouching an awkward catch at point.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2012
When Castro addressed an election-eve rally on Jan. 9, all his 71 years were recorded on his face: a beard grown gray, deep bags pouching out below red-rimmed eyes, age spots dotting his forehead.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then he opened his eyes and raised his head, pouching out his cheeks and sniffing at the two rabbits beside him.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Diverticula may, and usually do, consist in a pouching by herniation, of the whole thickness of the esophageal wall; or they may be herniations of the mucosa between the muscular layers.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
