Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Poach
Poach
(pōch)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Poached
(pōcht)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Poaching
.] [F. ]
pocher
to place in a pocket, to poach eggs (the yolk of the egg being as it were pouched
in the white), from poche
pocket, pouch. See Pouch
, Verb.
& Noun.
1.
To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel.
Bacon.
2.
To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder.
Garth.
Poach
,Verb.
I.
To steal or pocket game, or to carry it away privately, as in a bag; to kill or destroy game contrary to law, especially by night; to hunt or fish unlawfully;
as, to
. poach
for rabbits or for salmonPoach
,Verb.
T.
[Cf. OF.
pocher
to thrust or dig out with the fingers, to bruise (the eyes), F. pouce
thumb, L. pollex
, and also E. poach
to cook eggs, to plunder, and poke
to thrust against.] 1.
To stab; to pierce; to spear, as fish.
[Obs.]
Carew.
2.
To force, drive, or plunge into anything.
[Obs.]
His horse
poching
one of his legs into some hollow ground. Sir W. Temple.
3.
To make soft or muddy by trampling.
Tennyson.
4.
To begin and not complete.
[Obs.]
Bacon.
Poach
,Verb.
I.
To become soft or muddy.
Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and
poach
in winter. Mortimer.
Webster 1828 Edition
Poach
POACH
, v.t.1.
To boil slightly.2.
To dress by boiling slightly and mixing in a soft mass.3.
To begin and not complete.4.
To tread soft ground, or snow and water, as cattle, whose feet penetrate the soil of soft substance and leave deep tracks. 5.
To steal game; properly, to pocket game, or steal it and convey it away in a bag.6.
To steal; to plunder by stealth. They poach Parnassus,and lay claim for praise.
POACH
,Verb.
T.
To stab; to pierce; to spear; as, to poach fish.
POACH
,Verb.
I.
Chalky and clay lands burn in hot weather, chap in summer, and poach in winter.
Definition 2024
poach
poach
English
Verb
poach (third-person singular simple present poaches, present participle poaching, simple past and past participle poached)
- (transitive) To cook something in simmering liquid.
- 1931, Francis Beeding, chapter 1/1, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:
- Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car. Mulligatawny soup, poached turbot, roast leg of lamb—the usual railway dinner.
-
- (intransitive) To be cooked in simmering liquid
- Francis Bacon
- The white of an egg with spirit of wine, doth bake the egg into clots, as if it began to poach.
- Francis Bacon
- To become soft or muddy.
- Mortimer
- Chalky and clay lands […] chap in summer, and poach in winter.
- Mortimer
- To make soft or muddy.
- Cattle coming to drink had punched and poached the river bank into a mess of mud.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Tennyson to this entry?)
- (obsolete) To stab; to pierce; to spear, as fish.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Carew to this entry?)
- (obsolete) To force, drive, or plunge into anything.
- Sir W. Temple
- his horse poaching one of his legs into some hollow ground
- Sir W. Temple
- (obsolete) To begin and not complete.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
Derived terms
Translations
to cook in simmering liquid
to become soft or muddy
|
to make soft or muddy
|
Etymology 2
From Middle French pocher (“poke”), from Old French pochier (“poke out”).
Verb
poach (third-person singular simple present poaches, present participle poaching, simple past and past participle poached)
- (transitive, intransitive) To take game or fish illegally.
- (transitive, intransitive) To take anything illegally or unfairly.
- (transitive, intransitive) To cause an employee or customer to switch from a competing company to your own company.
Derived terms
Translations
to take game or fish illegally
|
|
to take illegally or unfairly
to cause an employee or customer to switch