pocket
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɒ.kɪt/
ipa: /ˈpɑ.kɪt/
note: weak vowel merger
ipa: /ˈpɑ.kət/
ipa: /ˈpɔ.kɪt/
rhymes: -ɒkɪt
Forms: form: pockets
form: pocketing
form: pocketed
form: pocketed
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 *pokō (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *pukkô, *pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Equivalent to poke + -et. 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.
Senses: examples: text: [Y]ou / Did pocket vp my Letters: and with taunts / Did gibe my Miſive out of audience.
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 346, column 1:
text: […] I ſtopt ſhort, and, pocketting my ducats in a great hurry, took out ſome rials, approached the hat, that was expoſed for the reception of charity extorted from chriſtians by fear, and dropt them into it, one after another, that the beggar might ſee how nobly I uſed him.
ref: 1749, [Alain-René Lesage], “Of His Being Grievously Alarmed in His Way to Pennaflor: […]”, in [Tobias George Smollett], transl., The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, volume I, London: […] J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, book I, page 5:
text: [M]y lord said that she did not flatter at any rate; and pocketted his snuff-box, not desirous that Madame Brack’s dubious fingers should plunge too frequently into his Mackabaw.
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Carries the Reader Both to Richmond and Greenwich”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 14:
text: She produced a Gillette blade from her coat pocket. / “Where did you get that?” / “Stole it from Mr Taylor!” she said proudly. / “That’s dangerous! You could cut yourself.” / Jemima looked unmoved and pocketted the blade.
ref: 2014, David Shepherd, “The Unexpected Guest (Mary’s Story: September - November 1939)”, in Jemima Against the World: A Romance in a Time of War, Dundee: Meadowside Publications, →ISBN, section 4, page 21:
glosses: To put (something) into a pocket.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
pool
snooker
sports
glosses: To cause a ball to go into one of the pockets of the table; to complete a shot.
examples: text: Record executives pocketed most of the young singer's earnings.
text: The thief was caught on camera pocketing the diamond.
text: But, Tom, thy ſelfe art paſt grace; for ſome of thyne owne faction, envying thy proficiencie and honour to which thou aſpireſt, hath pocketted thy grace.
ref: 1597, Don Richardo de Medico Campo [pseudonym; Richard Lichfield], The Trimming of Thomas Nashe Gentleman, London: […] [Edward Allde] for Philip Scarlet, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, The Trimming of Thomas Nashe Gentleman (Miscellaneous Tracts, Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I), [London: s.n.], 1870, →OCLC, page 51:
text: The store manager, a woman in her 50s, saw Sasaki pocket the condoms and detained him at the entrance to the store, while another employee called police.
ref: 2023, 85-year-old man arrested for stealing condoms from convenience store:
text: Under the Shadow GBR, it will be interesting to see how the government resolves the current mismatch whereby the DfT is responsible for spending money, but HM Treasury pockets the cash from train operators.
ref: 2024 October 16, Howard Johnston, “GBR is now in motion... but change will be a slow process”, in RAIL, number 1020, page 27:
glosses: To take and keep (something, especially money, that is not one's own).
examples: text: As long as the house suffered the practice to prevail, they must submit to pocket the insult of being told that it existed.
ref: 1810, Great Britain. Parliament, The Parliamentary Register, page 557:
glosses: To put up with; to bear without complaint.
Synonyms: sense: in billiards, etc
word: pot
sense: take and keep, etc
word: trouser
Derived terms: pocketability
pocketer
pocket up
repocket