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poke

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Pronunciation

  • /pəʊk/, /poʊk/[1]

poke1 bag, sack

Etymology

The bag is borrowed from Old Northern French poke, also poque,[2][3][4][5] a regional variant of Old French poche (“pocket”), the source of pouch.[2][3][4][6] The OED records the northern forms, with pouque, from 1275, and allows that the English word may come instead from the unrecorded Old Dutch source of Middle Dutch pōke (“bag, measure of wool”).[6] The French word is itself of Germanic origin;[2][5] its relatives include Old English pohha, Northumbrian pocca (“bag, pocket”), Middle High German pfoch (“pouch, purse”), dialectal German Pfoch and Old Norse poki (“bag, pouch”).[2][5][6] The OED thinks the Scandinavian word probably reinforced it in Middle English,[6] and Etymonline explains the English word as a merger of the Old English and Old Norse words, influenced by the French one, all probably from Proto-Germanic *puk- and the imitative root Proto-Indo-European *beu- (“to swell”).[7] Weekley preferred the Old Norse word, with the French as an alternative.[8] In Britain, Medieval Latin poca meant "bale, measure of wool" and "bag".[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bag or small sack: Barnhart finds it in 1228,[2][9] Etymonline in the early 13th century,[7] and the OED's first certain record is from about 1300, in Havelok.[6]

Semantic evolution

The word is now regional, except in the phrase a pig in a poke, something bought without being looked at.[6][3][4][2] Weekley compares Wycliffe's "to buy a cat in the sack" and the French acheter chat en poche.[8] Johnson (1755) defined poke as "a pocket; a small bag", quoting "I will not buy a pig in a poke" from Camden.[10] The word was also used for the funnel-shaped mouth of a fish-trap (before 1325), a long, full sleeve (1402), the stomach of a fish (about 1450) and a small bag or pocket worn on the person (before 1616, in Shakespeare).[6] A goitre was a Bavarian poke from 1621, in Burton, and in Scotland and the north of England a poke was a swelling on the neck of a sheep with liver fluke (1793).[6][5] In North American criminals' slang it became a purse or wallet (1859),[6][11] and then a roll of money (1926).[6][5] In the American South and Midland a poke is still a paper bag or sack.[5]

Timeline

  • 1228 – a bag, a sack (Barnhart).[2]
  • c. 1300 – a bag, a small sack; in Havelok.[6]
  • before 1325 – the funnel-shaped mouth of a fish-trap (obsolete).[6]
  • before 1400 – verb, to put in a bag or pocket.[6][4]
  • 1402 – a long full sleeve.[6]
  • c. 1450 – the stomach of a fish.[6]
  • before 1616 – a small bag worn on the person; a pocket.[6]
  • 1621 – Bavarian poke, a goitre (obsolete by 1819).[6]
  • 1859 – in criminals' slang, a purse or wallet.[6]
  • 1926 – slang, a roll of banknotes, money.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly Southern and Midland US, and regional) A bag or small sack: a poke of apples.[5][6][3]
  2. a pig in a poke: something bought or accepted without being seen or examined first.[6][3][4]
  3. (slang) A wallet or purse; a supply of money.[5][6][11]
  4. (chiefly dialectal) A pocket.[5][6]
  5. A swelling on the neck, as a goitre or the swelling of a sheep with liver fluke.[5][6]

Word family

poke2 prod, thrust

Etymology

The verb meaning to prod is inherited from Middle English poken, also puken,[2][7] apparently borrowed from Middle Dutch pōken (“to stoke a fire, to stab, to thrust”) or its cognate Middle Low German pōken (“to thrust with a knife”).[6][4][3][12] The OED also considers an Old English cognate: a disputed gloss may show Old English pucian (“to jab, incite”).[6] The Dutch and Low German verbs are related to poke (“dagger”), Dutch pook (“poker”) and pōk (“dagger”), all of unknown origin.[6][2] Etymonline compares German pochen (“to knock, rap”) and suggests Proto-Germanic *puk-, perhaps imitative;[7][2] Klein also calls it imitative,[13] and Merriam-Webster compares Old Irish būalaim (“I strike”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To jab or push a person with a hand or a stick: about 1330, in Guy of Warwick, where Barnhart reads the form puken, to poke or nudge.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1335 the verb was used of holding one's head thrust forward,[6] and by about 1400, in Langland, figuratively for stirring someone up or goading them.[6] Thrusting at something is recorded from 1599, protruding from 1611 and thrusting one's nose or finger into something from 1726, in Swift.[6] To poke fun at appears in 1795 in the OED, and by 1811 in Etymonline's evidence;[6][7] Weekley dates it to the 19th century.[8] From the idea of groping one's way, poke also came to mean pottering or working idly (1796), poke around to search (1809) and poke along to move slowly (1833).[7] The noun, an act of poking, is recorded from 1690 in the OED and Merriam-Webster,[6][5] but Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1796, as boxing slang.[7][9] A yoke with a projecting pole, put on cattle and pigs to keep them from breaking through fences, was a poke from 1809,[6][7] and a slow, lazy person from 1847, as in slowpoke.[6][7] The projecting brim of a bonnet was a poke from about 1614 in the OED, probably because it pokes out, and the poke bonnet followed in 1815.[6][4] Barnhart dates the brim to 1770 and the bonnet to 1820.[2] Later senses include sexual intercourse (1902), horsepower or vigour (1965) and, in computing, the BASIC command POKE (1978).[6][7][11]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – to jab or push someone.[6]
  • c. 1335 – to hold the head thrust forward.[6]
  • c. 1400 – figuratively, to stir up, goad (Langland).[6]
  • 1599 – to make a thrust.[6]
  • 1611 – to stick out, protrude.[6]
  • c. 1614 – noun, the projecting brim of a bonnet.[6]
  • 1690 – noun, an act of poking, a thrust or push.[6][5]
  • 1795 – to poke fun at, to tease.[6]
  • 1802 – to stir up a fire with a poker.[6]
  • 1809 – a yoke put on cattle to stop them breaking fences.[6][7]
  • 1809 – poke around, to search.[7]
  • 1847 – a slow or lazy person.[6]
  • 1906 – to hit with the fist.[6]
  • 1978 – the BASIC command POKE.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To push or jab with a finger, elbow or something pointed: He poked his brother in the ribs.[14][5][6]
  2. To make a hole or opening by pushing: She poked a hole in the paper with a pencil.[14]
  3. To stick out or protrude, or to push something out or into a place: A cat poked its head round the door.[14][5][6]
  4. (informal) To hit with the fist; to punch.[14][6]
  5. To stir up a fire with a poker.[6]
  6. poke about or poke around: to search or pry, often idly.[7]
  7. poke fun at: to make fun of; to tease.[6][7]
  8. (archaic) To stir up or goad; to incite.[5][6]

Noun

  1. An act of poking; a thrust, jab or nudge.[14][5][6]
  2. (informal) A blow with the fist.[5][6]
  3. A slowpoke; a slow or lazy person.[5][6]
  4. The projecting brim of a bonnet, or a poke bonnet.[6][4]

Word family

  • poker
  • poky
  • pokable
  • slowpoke
  • cowpoke
  • poke bonnet

poke3 pokeweed

Etymology

The plant is a borrowing from an Algonquian language of Virginia.[6][5][15][4] The OED derives it from the word spelled “pocan”, perhaps a variant of the source of puccoon;[6] Merriam-Webster and Klein take it as an alteration of the Virginia word that is also the source of puccoon, a name for plants used for staining and dyeing, from a word meaning "blood".[5][13] The OED compares, for that word, Unami pé·kɔ·n (“bloodroot”).[6] Etymonline and Barnhart connect it with an earlier English word for a plant smoked as tobacco (1634), short for “uppowoc” (1588); the OED traces that one to a Virginia Algonquian word for tobacco, literally "thing for smoking", and Etymonline suggests the colonists may have confused similar plant names.[7][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pokeweed, Phytolacca americana: the OED's first record is from 1687, in a letter by John Clayton,[6] while Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1708.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The plant is a tall weed of eastern North America, used in medicine and for dyeing.[7][2] Indian poke was the American false hellebore from 1785.[6]

Timeline

  • 1634 – poke, a plant smoked as tobacco by Native Americans.[6][2]
  • 1687 – the pokeweed.[6]
  • 1708 – the pokeweed (Barnhart, Merriam-Webster).[2][5]
  • 1785 – Indian poke, the false hellebore.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The pokeweed, a tall weed of eastern North America used in medicine and dyeing.[5][6][7]
  2. Indian poke: the American false hellebore.[6]

Word family

  • pokeweed
  • pokeberry
  • pokeroot
  • poke salad
  • pouch
  • poach
  • puccoon

Usage notes

Two minor words are spelled the same: poke (/ˈpəʊkeɪ/), a Hawaiian dish of cubed raw fish, borrowed from a Hawaiian word meaning a slice (1978),[6][14] and poke as a short form of shitepoke, the green heron (1791).[6][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt