poke
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poke¹
- /pəʊk/ UK
- /poʊk/ US
Rhymes with -əʊk
Where it comes from
From Middle English poken, perhaps from Middle Dutch poken or Middle Low German poken, both from Proto-West Germanic *pukōn or similar, which is itself of uncertain origin, but may be from an imitative Proto-Germanic root *puk-. Doublet of poach.
Compare Nordic cognates Swedish påka (“to poke, muck with a stick”), påk (“club, limb; dagger”), pykel (“small poker”), dialectal Norwegian pauka (“to walk stomping, etc”), pauk (“weak, slow person”). Central European noun-cognates refer to “dagger, bad knife, poker (for a fireplace)”, with analog verbs. To a Proto-Germanic *pauk-, *puk-, meaning, “to stick, muck with a stick”.
verb pokes · poking · poked
- To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick. Ward showed good pace to beat the advancing Reina to the ball and poke a low finish into the corner.
- To stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning.
-
To rummage; to feel or grope around.
I poked about in the rubble, trying to find my lost keys.
Similar: fumble, glaum, root, feel around, scrabble, fish, forage, scramble, grabble, grope, grubble, poke
- To modify the value stored in (a memory address). The 200 UDGs may be used either by paging between 10 sets of 20 UDGs or, alternatively, by displaying 96 different characters by poking the system variable CHARS with 256 less than the starting address of your graphics.
- To put a poke (device to prevent leaping or breaking fences) on (an animal). to poke an ox
- To thrust at with the horns; to gore.
- To notify (another user) of activity on social media or an instant messenger. Indeed, when we poke users who normally do not have access to our profiles, they will be able to temporarily see our Basic Info, Work Info, and Education Info.
- To thrust (something) in a particular direction such as the tongue.
-
To penetrate in sexual intercourse.
Maj. Cloutier commented to Lt. Clemm, "You know what they say about a girl who smokes: If she smokes, she pokes."
Similar: drill, nail, pound, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with
noun pokes
- A prod, jab, or thrust.
- A lazy person; a dawdler. The slowness of this stupid poke tortures me to death.
- A stupid or uninteresting person. I see you shaking your head at me, mother, and reminding me of 'That mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me;' but I don't believe I go on so; if I have nothing to say I keep still, and you'd better be a stupid poke, which I often feel myself, than waste the time with such trash.
- An old, worn-out horse. It was feared the dear old poke I had been riding could not keep up with the rest on this long day's journey: so I had "the cook's horse," who did not understand my method of pulling my dear old beast's head from the edge of the ravine gently with my bridle.
- A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward. I find from their testimony , which was not contradicted , that the placing of such a poke upon such a colt in such a pasture is not considered dangerous, and that farmers are accustomed so to poke their own horses, but that they are not accustomed to put pokes on or 'hamper' horses owned by other p
- The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game. […] everywhere you see listings festooned with Goto statements and peppered with peeks and pokes.
- A notification sent to get another user's attention on social media or an instant messenger. It could be described as a poke, but not a friendly one. For those who have not yet succumbed to Facebook, the latest craze on the internet, a ‘poke’ is an electronic greeting sent, for example, to an old friend from university.
- A poke bonnet. Well then, I declare, I'd rather see Miss Lawton in that old poke – old as it is! –than in the finest new bonnet the Squire's lady ever wore.
- A hit, especially an extra base hit.
poke²
- /pəʊk/ UK
- /poʊk/ US
Rhymes with -əʊk
Where it comes from
From Middle English poke, from Anglo-Norman poke (whence pocket), from Frankish *poka. More at pocket. Doublet of pouch. First attested in the early 13th c.
noun pokes
- A sack or bag, especially a paper bag. poke of reefer
-
A long, wide sleeve.
Similar: poke sleeve
- An ice cream cone.
- A bag of chips.
poke³
- /pəʊk/ UK
- /poʊk/ US
Rhymes with -əʊk
Where it comes from
Clipping of pocan (“pokeweed”) or directly borrowed from Powhatan pocan. See pocan for more.
noun
-
Pokeweed, and its berries.
[W]hen rodents were scarce they ate chestnuts and rhubarb and poke and other wild food[.]
Similar: the list at pokeweed
poke⁴
- /ˈpoʊkeɪ/
- /ˈpoʊki/
- /pəʊk/ UK
- /poʊk/ US
Rhymes with -əʊkeɪ, -əʊki, -əʊk
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Hawaiian poke (literally “to cut crosswise into pieces”).
noun poké
- Slices or cubes of raw fish or other raw seafood, mixed with sesame oil, seaweed, sea salt, herbs, spices, or other flavorful ingredients. Though I'd often eaten sashimi, poke was then completely new to me—delicious rubies of cubed fish dressed in light sesame oil, garnished with minced bits of reddish-brown seaweed and the ground centers of kukui nuts (see recipe, next page).
Poke⁵
proper noun Pokes
- A surname.
Poke⁶
Where it comes from
Clipping of Pokémon
noun Pokes
- A Pokémon. A lot of Japanese Pokemon CCG cards--mostly Fire Pokes, including Charmander and Charmeleon.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: prod, jabbing, jab, stab, thump, punch, biff, thrust, thrusting, carrier bag, paper bag, sack, garget, lick, pry, dig
Translations
Every language
verb to jab with an object such as a finger or a stick
| Español | hurgar, hincar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 突く tsuku, 突く tsutsuku |
| 中文 | 戳 chuō, 捅 tǒng, 刺 cì |
| हिन्दी | उंगली करना uṅglī karnā |
| Kiswahili | sukuma |
| Português | cutucar |
| Français | piquer |
| Deutsch | stochern, anstupsen |
| Italiano | ficcare, pungolare, spronare |
| Русский | ты́кать týkatʹ, ткнуть tknutʹ, сова́ть sovátʹ, су́нуть súnutʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | chọc |
| العربية | خَزَّ ḵazza |
verb to stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning
| Español | atizar |
|---|---|
| Português | atiçar |
| Français | attiser |
| Deutsch | schüren |
| Italiano | attizzare |
| Русский | шурова́ть šurovátʹ, меша́ть mešátʹ |
verb computing: to modify the value stored in a memory address
| Deutsch | poken |
|---|
noun a prod, jab, or thrust
| Español | piquete |
|---|
noun sack or bag
| Deutsch | Sack |
|---|
noun Hawaiian sea food dish
| Português | poke |
|---|
Talk about this word "poke." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/poke. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. poke. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/poke "poke." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/poke.Cite this
@misc{poke_2026,
title = {poke},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/poke},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
