slowpoke
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of slowpoke
Explanation
If it takes a long time for you to act or move, you're a slowpoke. Being a slowpoke is a real disadvantage when you're running in a 50 yard dash. The informal slowpoke is a good one to use when your little brother is lagging behind, slowing everyone down: "Hurry up, slowpoke!" In the UK, the equivalent word is slowcoach, which makes sense if you think of a stagecoach moving slowly. The poke part of slowpoke comes from a rare meaning, "a device attached to pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping," and is also the root of pokey, or "slow."
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.
“This is a very mortifying situation,” Fisher Ames of Massachusetts said then, at Federal Hall in New York City, while waiting for his slowpoke colleagues.
From Washington Post • Jan. 4, 2023
Jones, the first-round draft pick, had trouble hanging onto the ball at times, but he had a strong arm and was no slowpoke, like Manning.
From The Guardian • Dec. 30, 2019
Gov. Newsom kept her on as leader of a “strike team” to reform the slowpoke Department of Motor Vehicles.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 21, 2019
What an irony: From the last days of the slowpoke Dick Bennett regime in 2006, they’ve come full circle.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 24, 2014
“You’ve gone from slowpoke to safety hazard in one day.”
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
Definitions 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.
