pocket

Meaning

Noun

1. A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
2. A person's financial resources.
3. An indention and cavity with a net sack or similar structure (into which the balls are to be struck) at each corner and one centered on each side of a pool or snooker table.
4. An enclosed volume of one substance surrounded by another.
5. An area of land surrounded by a loop of a river.
6. The area of the field to the side of the goal posts (four pockets in total on the field, one to each side of the goals at each end of the ground). The pocket is only a roughly defined area, extending from the behind post, at an angle, to perhaps about 30 meters out.
7. The area behind the line of scrimmage subject to certain rules regarding intentional grounding, illegal contact, etc., formally extending to the end zone but more usually understood as the central area around the quarterback directly protected by the offensive line.
8. An area where military units are completely surrounded by enemy units.
9. The position held by a second defensive middle, where an advanced middle must retreat after making a touch on the attacking middle.
10. The unbroken part of a wave that offers the surfer the most power.
11. A large bag or sack formerly used for packing various articles, such as ginger, hops, or cowries; the pocket of wool held about 168 pounds.
12. A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, etc.
13. A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
14. A strip of canvas sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
15. The pouch of an animal.
16. The ideal point where the pins are hit by the bowling ball.
17. A socket for receiving the base of a post, stake, etc.
18. A bight on a lee shore.
19. A small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the two.
20. A small, isolated group or area.
21. A state achieved with steady, enjoyable drumming.

Verb

1. To put (something) into a pocket.
2. To cause a ball to go into one of the pockets of the table; to complete a shot.
3. (informal) To take and keep (something, especially money, that is not one's own).
4. (informal) To put up with; to bear without complaint.

Adj

1. Of a size suitable for putting into a pocket.
2. Smaller or more compact than usual.
3. Referring to the two initial hole cards.

Hyphenated as

pock‧et

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈpɒ.kɪt/

Etymology

From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokā (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *pukkô, *pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of pochette. Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke (“sack or bag”). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.