6 entries under this word
n. [A-S. poca, poha, pocca, Icel. poki, Prov. & O. Fr. poque, pouque, N. Fr. poche, L. Lat. pochia. Cf. POACH.]
To buy a pig in a poke (that is, in a pocket), to buy a thing without seeing it, or knowing definitely its quality or value. “I will not buy a pig in a poke.” Camden.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. POKED (pōkt); p. pr. & vb. n. POKING.] [L. Ger. poken, to prick, pierce, thrust, pok, D. pook, a dagger, knife, allied to Lat. pungere, to prick, pugio, a dagger.]
Sense 1. To thrust against; to push against with any thing pointed; hence, to feel or search for with a long instrument.
Sense 2. To thrust at with the horns, as an ox.
To poke fun, to make fun; to joke; to jest. [Colloq. U. S.] — To poke fun at, to make a butt of; to ridicule; to jest at; to jeer. [Colloq. U. S.] Bartlett.
To grope, as in the dark. Prior. To poke at, to thrust the horns at.
n. 1. The act of poking or pushing; a thrust; as a poke in the ribs.
v. t. To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox.
n. (Bot.) A North American herbaceous plant of the genus Phytolacca (P. decandra), bearing dark-purple, juicy berries; — called also cocum, garget, pigeon-berry, pocan, and poke-weed. The root has active properties, and has been used in medicine. The young shoots are sometimes eaten as a substitute for asparagus, and the berries are used, in Europe, to color wine.