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Webster 1913 Edition

Pocket

Pock′et

(pŏk′ĕt)
,
Noun.
[OE.
poket
, Prov. F. & OF.
poquette
, F.
pochette
, dim. fr.
poque
,
pouque
, F.
poche
; probably of Teutonic origin. See
Poke
a pocket, and cf.
Poach
to cook eggs, to plunder, and
Pouch
.]
1.
A bag or pouch; especially; a small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles, particularly money; hence, figuratively, money; wealth.
2.
One of several bags attached to a billiard table, into which the balls are driven.
3.
A large bag or sack used in packing various articles, as ginger, hops, cowries, etc.
☞ In the wool or hop trade, the pocket contains half a sack, or about 168 Ibs.; but it is a variable quantity, the articles being sold by actual weight.
4.
(Arch.)
A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
5.
(Mining.)
(a)
A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
(b)
A hole containing water.
6.
(Nat.)
A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
7.
(Zool.)
Same as
Pouch
.
☞ Pocket is often used adjectively in the sense of small, or in the formation of compound words usually of obvious signification; as, pocket knife, pocket comb, pocket compass, pocket edition, pocket handkerchief, pocket money, pocket picking, or pocket-picking, etc.
deep pocket
or
deep pockets
,
wealth or substantial financial assets.
Used esp. in legal actions, where plaintiffs desire to find a defendant with "deep pockets", so as to be able to actually obtain the sum of damages which may be judged due to him. This contrasts with a "judgment-proof" defendant, one who has neither assets nor insurance, and against whom a judgment for monetary damages would be uncollectable and worthless.
–
Out of pocket
.
See under
Out
,
p
rep.
–
Pocket borough
,
a borough “owned” by some person.
See under
Borough
.
[Eng.]
–
Pocket gopher
(Zool.)
,
any one of several species of American rodents of the genera
Geomys
, and
Thomomys
, family
Geomydæ
. They have large external cheek pouches, and are fossorial in their habits. they inhabit North America, from the Mississippi Valley west to the Pacific. Called also
pouched gopher
.
–
Pocket mouse
(Zool.)
,
any species of American mice of the family
Saccomyidæ
. They have external cheek pouches. Some of them are adapted for leaping (genus
Dipadomys
), and are called
kangaroo mice
. They are native of the Southwestern United States, Mexico, etc.
–
Pocket piece
,
a piece of money kept in the pocket and not spent.
–
Pocket pistol
,
a pistol to be carried in the pocket.
–
Pocket sheriff
(Eng. Law)
,
a sheriff appointed by the sole authority of the crown, without a nomination by the judges in the exchequer.
Burrill.

Pock′et

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pocketed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Pocketing
.]
1.
To put, or conceal, in the pocket;
as, to
pocket
the change
.
He would
pocket
the expense of the license.
Sterne.
2.
To take clandestinely or fraudulently.
He
pocketed
pay in the names of men who had long been dead.
Macaulay.
To pocket a ball
(Billiards)
,
to drive a ball into a pocket of the table.
–
To pocket an insult
,
affront
, etc.
,
to receive an affront without open resentment, or without seeking redress.
“I must pocket up these wrongs.”
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Pocket

POCK'ET

, n.
1.
A small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles.
2.
A small bag or net to receive the balls in billiards.
3.
A certain quantity; as a pocket of hops, as in other cases we use sack. [Not used in America.]

POCK'ET

,
Verb.
T.
To put or conceal in the pocket; as, to pocket a penknife.
1.
To take clandestinely.
To pocket an insult or affront, to receive it without resenting it, or at least without seeking redress. [In popular use.]

Definition 2024

pocket

pocket

English

The back pocket of a pair of jeans (1).
A corner pocket on a billiards table (2).

Noun

pocket ‎(plural pockets)

  1. A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Case of Miss Elliott:
      “Do I fidget you ?” he asked apologetically, whilst his long bony fingers buried themselves, string, knots, and all, into the capacious pockets of his magnificent tweed ulster.
  2. Such a receptacle seen as housing someone's money; hence, financial resources.
    • 2012, Simon Heffer, "In Fagin's Footsteps", Literary Review, 403:
      There was, for much of the period, no cheap public transport; and even the Underground, or one of Shillibeer's horse-drawn omnibuses, was beyond the pocket of many of the poor.
  3. (sports, billiards, pool, snooker) 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.
    • 2012 November 18, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Time:
      She knew from avalanche safety courses that outstretched hands might puncture the ice surface and alert rescuers. She knew that if victims ended up buried under the snow, cupped hands in front of the face could provide a small pocket of air for the mouth and nose. Without it, the first breaths could create a suffocating ice mask.
    The drilling expedition discovered a pocket of natural gas.‎
  5. (Australia) An area of land surrounded by a loop of a river.
  6. (Australian rules football) 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. (American Football) The region directly behind the offensive line in which the quarterback executes plays.
  8. (military) An area where military units are completely surrounded by enemy units.
  9. (rugby) The position held by a second defensive middle, where an advanced middle must retreat after making a touch on the attacking middle.
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
      Matt Stevens was crumpled by Euan Murray in another scrum, allowing Parks to kick for the corner, and when Richie Gray's clean take from the subsequent line-out set up a series of drives under the posts, Parks was back in the pocket to belt over a drop-goal to make it 9-3 at the interval.
  10. A large bag or sack formerly used for packing various articles, such as ginger, hops, or cowries.
  11. (architecture) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, etc.
  12. (mining) A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
  13. (nautical) A strip of canvas sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
  14. The pouch of an animal.
  15. (bowling) The ideal point where the pins are hit by the bowling ball.
  16. A socket for receiving the base of a post, stake, etc.
  17. A bight on a lee shore.
  18. (dentistry) A small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the two.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

pocket ‎(third-person singular simple present pockets, present participle pocketing, simple past and past participle pocketed)

  1. To put (something) into a pocket.
  2. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) To cause a ball to go into one of the pockets of the table; to complete a shot.
  3. (slang) To take and keep (especially money) that which is not one's own.
  4. (slang) To shoplift, to steal.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To receive (an insult, an affront, etc.) without open resentment, or without seeking redress.
    • William Shakespeare
      Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs.

Synonyms

  • (in billiards, etc): pot
  • (take and keep, etc): trouser

Translations

Adjective

pocket ‎(not comparable)

  1. Of a size suitable for putting into a pocket.
    pocket dictionary
  2. Smaller or more compact than usual.
    pocket battleship
  3. (Texas hold'em poker) Referring to the two initial hole cards.
    A pocket pair of kings.

Synonyms

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Swedish

Noun

pocket c

  1. paperback; book with flexible binding

Declension

Inflection of pocket 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative pocket pocketen pocketar pocketarna
Genitive pockets pocketens pocketars pocketarnas

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle English pocket ‎(“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke ‎(“bag, sack”) (compare modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokka, *poka ‎(“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *puk-, *pūka- ‎(“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *buk-, *bu-, *beu- ‎(“to blow, swell”). 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.

Pronunciation

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