pocket
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɒ.kɪt/
ipa: /ˈpɑ.kɪt/
note: weak vowel merger
ipa: /ˈpɑ.kət/
ipa: /ˈpɔ.kɪt/
rhymes: -ɒkɪt
Forms: form: pockets
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: “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.
ref: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 1, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
topics: business
clothing
fashion
lifestyle
manufacturing
textiles
glosses: A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
examples: text: I paid for it out of my own pocket.
text: 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.
ref: 2012, Simon Heffer, “In Fagin's Footsteps”, in Literary Review, section 403:
text: "The financial impact of the fuel duty cut on people's pockets will in fact be minimal, […]"
ref: 2022 April 6, “Network News: Spring Statement: Sunak accused of making rail less competitive”, in RAIL, number 954, page 8:
synonyms: pocketbook
glosses: A person's financial resources.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
pool
snooker
sports
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013:
text: The drilling expedition discovered a pocket of natural gas.
glosses: An enclosed volume of one substance surrounded by another.
glosses: An area of land surrounded by a loop of a river.
qualifier: Australian rules football
glosses: 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.
examples: text: For many years, the popular belief among NFL analysts was that the success of an NFL team comes with a quarterback who can stand tall in the pocket and deliver the ball downfield. Members of the elite group of active quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees, for instance, also earned their reputation by making plays almost exclusively from the pocket.
ref: 2014 June 20, Gregor Bozic, "Ramblings: Classic Pocket Passers versus Mobile Quarterbacks", Football Outsiders
text: With some notable exceptions, NFL teams that are successful on dropbacks outside the pocket have tended to win more games
ref: 2019 Dec. 6, Josh Hermsmeyer, "Teams Are Excelling when Their QBs Leave the Pocket. Can that Continue?", FiveThirtyEight
text: The Pocket Area is the area between the outside edges of the normal tackle positions on each side of the center extending backward to the offensive team's end line. After the ball leaves the pocket area, this area no longer exists.
ref: 2021, Official Playing Rules of the National Football League, §26: Pocket Area
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The area behind the line of scrimmage subject to certain rules regarding intentional grounding, illegal contact, etc., formally extending to the end zone but more usually understood as the central area around the quarterback directly protected by the offensive line.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: An area where military units are completely surrounded by enemy units.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rugby
sports
glosses: The position held by a second defensive middle, where an advanced middle must retreat after making a touch on the attacking middle.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
surfing
glosses: The unbroken part of a wave that offers the surfer the most power.
glosses: A large bag or sack formerly used for packing various articles, such as ginger, hops, or cowries; the pocket of wool held about 168 pounds.
topics: architecture
glosses: A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, etc.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A strip of canvas sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
glosses: The pouch of an animal.
topics: bowling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The ideal point where the pins are hit by the bowling ball.
glosses: A socket for receiving the base of a post, stake, etc.
glosses: A bight on a lee shore.
topics: dentistry
medicine
sciences
glosses: A small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the two.
examples: text: They are comfortable trains with decent windows, ideal for observing a line which is one of the last pockets of manually operated crossing gates and semaphore signalling - [...].
ref: 2020 November 4, Paul Bigland, “At no point have I felt unsafe...”, in Rail, page 47:
glosses: A small, isolated group or area.
examples: text: in the pocket
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A state achieved with steady, enjoyable drumming.
Synonyms: topics: football
ball-games
games
sports
hobbies
lifestyle
word: backfield
topics: football
ball-games
games
sports
hobbies
lifestyle
word: passing pocket
topics: football
ball-games
games
sports
hobbies
lifestyle
word: tackle box
Derived terms: Alabama hot pocket
back-pocket
back pocket
be in the pocket of someone
besom pocket
big pocket
blind pocket
book pocket
breast pocket
burn a hole in someone's pocket
camas pocket gopher
cheat the pocket
cosh pocket
deep pocket
double besom pocket
forepocket
frog in one's pocket
frost pocket
gas pocket
green pocket
Henry's pocket
hindpocket
hip-pocket
hip pocket
hip-pocket client
hip-pocket flask
hip pocket frog
hop pocket
impocket
in one's back pocket
in one's hip pocket
in one's pocket
in pocket
inside pocket
in someone's pocket
in the pocket
in the pocket of someone
is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me
is there a mouse in your pocket
kangaroo pocket
love pocket
map pocket
micropocket
one-pocket
out of one's own pocket
out-of-pocket
out of pocket
patch pocket
pick-pocket
pill in the pocket
pill pocket
pizza pocket
plum pocket
pocketable
pocket battleship
pocket bike
pocket billiards
pocket-book
pocket book
pocket borough
pocket bra
pocket bread
pocket-call
pocket call
pocket cartoon
pocket cartoonist
pocket CD
pocket change
pocket clock
pocket computer
pocket dial
pocket-dial
pocket diaper
pocket dictionary
pocket door
pocket edition
pocket-flask
pocketful
pocket gopher
pocket handkerchief
pocket-handkerchief
pocket-hole
pocket-hole jig
pocket-knife
pocket knife
pocketknife
pocket lamp
pocketless
pocketlight
pocket light
pocketlike
pocket litter
pocket melon
pocket money
pocket monster
pocket mouse
pocket nappy
pocket net
pocket pair
pocket park
pocket pet
pocketphone
pocket piece
pocket pistol
pocket plum
pocket pool
pocket-pool
pocket protector
pocketpussy
pocket pussy
pocket rocket
pocket rockets
pocket-sheriff
pocket shrapnel
pocket square
pocket symphony
pocket T
pocket tee
pocket trumpet
pocket T-shirt
pocket universe
pocketwards
pocket-watch
pockety
poly pocket
prison pocket
pseudopocket
punched pocket
punch pocket
put one's hand in one's pocket
putpocket
rot pocket
slash pocket
spiny pocket mouse
spring pocket
stercoral pocket
subpocket
trouser pocket
unpocket
vest-pocket
watch pocket
water pocket
wetter than an otter's pocket
yellow pocket
you got a mouse in your pocket
Related terms: poke
pouch