[syn: pocket, bag]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pocket \Pock"et\, n.
Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use;
specif.:
(a) A bin for strong coal, grain, etc.
(b) A socket for receiving the foot of a post, stake, etc.
(c) A bright on a lee shore.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pocket \Pock"et\ (p[o^]k"[e^]t), n. [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.
[1913 Webster]
2. One of several bags attached to a billiard table, into
which the balls are driven.
[1913 Webster]
3. A large bag or sack used in packing various articles, as
ginger, hops, cowries, etc.
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Note: 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.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Arch.) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of
board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Nat.) A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a
batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Zool.) Same as Pouch.
[1913 Webster]
8. Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use;
specif.:
(a) A bin for storing coal, grain, etc.
(b) A socket for receiving the foot of a post, stake, etc.
(c) A bight on a lee shore.
(d) a small cavity in the body, especially one abnormally
filled with a fluid; as, a pocket of pus.
(e) (Dentistry) a small space between a tooth and the
adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the
gum from the tooth.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
9. An isolated group or area which has properties in contrast
to the surrounding area; as, a pocket of poverty in an
affluent region; pockets of resistance in a conquered
territory; a pocket of unemployment in a booming ecomony.
[PJC]
10. (Football) The area from which a quarterback throws a
pass, behind the line of scrimmage, delineated by the
defensive players of his own team who protect him from
attacking opponents; as, he had ample time in the pocket
to choose an open receiver.
[PJC]
11. (Baseball) The part of a baseball glove covering the palm
of the wearer's hand.
[PJC]
12. (Bowling) the space between the head pin and one of the
pins in the second row, considered as the optimal point
at which to aim the bowling ball in order to get a
strike.
[PJC]
Note: 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.
[1913 Webster]
deep pocket or
deep pockets, wealth or substantial financial assets.
Note: 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, prep.
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 Geomyd[ae]. 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 Saccomyid[ae]. 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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pocket \Pock"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pocketed; p. pr. & vb.
n. Pocketing.]
1. To put, or conceal, in the pocket; as, to pocket the
change.
[1913 Webster]
He would pocket the expense of the license.
--Sterne.
[1913 Webster]
2. To take clandestinely or fraudulently.
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He pocketed pay in the names of men who had long
been dead. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
pocket
n 1: a small pouch inside a garment for carrying small articles
2: an enclosed space; "the trapped miners found a pocket of air"
[syn: pouch, sac, sack, pocket]
3: a supply of money; "they dipped into the taxpayers' pockets"
4: (bowling) the space between the headpin and the pins behind
it on the right or left; "the ball hit the pocket and gave
him a perfect strike"
5: a hollow concave shape made by removing something [syn:
scoop, pocket]
6: a local region of low pressure or descending air that causes
a plane to lose height suddenly [syn: air pocket, pocket,
air hole]
7: a small isolated group of people; "they were concentrated in
pockets inside the city"; "the battle was won except for
cleaning up pockets of resistance"
8: (anatomy) saclike structure in any of various animals (as a
marsupial or gopher or pelican) [syn: pouch, pocket]
9: an opening at the corner or on the side of a billiard table
into which billiard balls are struck
v 1: put in one's pocket; "He pocketed the change"
2: take unlawfully [syn: pocket, bag]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
312 Moby Thesaurus words for "pocket":
CAT, Swiss bank account, abstract, acquire, aerospace, aerosphere,
air hole, air pocket, airspace, alveolation, alveolus, antrum,
appropriate, area, armpit, assets, baby, baby-sized, bag, balance,
balloon, bank account, bantam, banty, barrel, basin, bear with,
beleaguer, beset, besiege, billfold, bladder, blind alley,
blockade, bottle, bottom dollar, bound, bowl, box, box in, budget,
bump, burden, cage, camp, can, canned, capsule, cash reserves,
catch up, cavity, ceiling, chamber, checking account, claim,
clap hands on, clasp, claw, clench, clinch, close in, cluster,
clutch, collar, command of money, compact, compass, concave,
concavity, concentration, constitute, contain, coop, coop in,
coop up, cordon, cordon off, corral, crate, crater, crosswind,
crypt, cul-de-sac, cup, dead end, decree, depression, digest,
diminutive, dip, disregard, down, drain off, draw off, duodecimo,
dwarfish, eat, embezzle, embrace, empty space, enact, enact laws,
encircle, enclose, encompass, endure, enshrine, exchequer,
favorable wind, fence in, filch, filibuster, fill, finances,
fiscal, fob, fog, fold, follicle, freight, front, fund, funds,
funnel chest, get, get hold of, get the floor, glom on to, grab,
grab hold of, grapple, grasp, grip, gripe, handbag, handy,
have the floor, head wind, heap, heap up, hedge in, hem in,
high-pressure area, hole, hollow, hollow shell, hook, house in,
hug, ignore, impasse, impound, imprison, incarcerate, include,
ionosphere, island, itsy-bitsy, jail, jetstream, keep, kennel,
kill, kitty, lacuna, lade, lay hands on, lay hold of, leaguer,
legislate, life savings, lift, load, lobby through, logroll, loot,
low-pressure area, mass, means, mew, mew up, miniature,
miniaturized, minikin, minimal, minuscule, minute, monetary,
money belt, money clip, moneys, nab, nail, nest egg, nick, nip,
nip up, ordain, overcast, pack, pack away, palm, partake, pass,
pecuniary, pecuniary resources, pen, pen in, pigeonhole, pile,
pilfer, pillage, pinch, pit, pocket the affront, pocket-size,
pocket-sized, pocketbook, poke, pony, pool, porte-monnaie, possess,
potted, pouch, punch bowl, purloin, purse, purse strings,
put in force, put through, quarantine, rail in, railroad through,
receive, receptacle, reserves, resources, reticule, rip off,
roll logs, roughness, sac, sack, satchel, savings, savings account,
scoop, seize, shell, ship, shrine, shut in, shut up, sink, sinus,
small-scale, snaffle, snap up, snatch, snitch, socket, soup, space,
stable, stack, steal, stomach, store, stow, stratosphere,
subminiature, substance, substratosphere, surround, swallow,
swallow an insult, swipe, table, tail wind, take, take by assault,
take by storm, take hold of, take possession, take the floor,
thieve, tolerate, toy, treasure, tropopause, troposphere, trough,
turbulence, turn aside provocation, twelvemo,
unregistered bank account, vest-pocket, veto, visibility,
visibility zero, vug, wall in, wallet, wee, weeny, wherewithal,
whip up, wrap, yard, yard up, yield the floor
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
POCKET, n. The cradle of motive and the grave of conscience. In
woman this organ is lacking; so she acts without motive, and her
conscience, denied burial, remains ever alive, confessing the sins of
others.