poke
nounEtymology
From Middle English poken, perhaps from Middle Dutch poken or Middle Low German poken, both from Proto-West Germanic *pukōn or similar, which is itself of uncertain origin, but may be from an imitative Proto-Germanic root *puk-. Doublet of poach. Compare Nordic cognates Swedish påka (“to poke, muck with a stick”), påk (“club, limb; dagger”), pykel (“small poker”), dialectal Norwegian pauka (“to walk stomping, etc”), pauk (“weak, slow person”). Central European noun-cognates refer to “dagger, bad knife, poker (for a fireplace)”, with analog verbs. To a Proto-Germanic *pauk-, *puk-, meanig, “to stick, muck with a stick”.
9 senses
- 1A prod, jab, or thrust.
- 2A lazy person; a dawdler.
- 3A stupid or uninteresting person.
- 4An old, worn-out horse.
- 5A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking…
- 6The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to…
- 7A notification sent to get another user's attention on…
- 8A poke bonnet.
- 9A hit, especially an extra base hit.
1
A prod, jab, or thrust.
- The slowness of this stupid poke tortures me to death.1865, Adolphe Belot ·, The Cup and the Lip. A Comedy in Five Acts., page 38:
- To the uninitiated he looked like a slow old poke; but his string would lengthen out in a most mysterious way , and it was the height of our ambition to set as much and as clean a proof as old John.1905, Typographical Journal - Volume 27, page 186:
3 more examples
- I never saw such an old poke. You come up here and expect me to do some things for you, and then you stand around as though you were made of bone!2015, Theodore Dreiser, Twelve Men: Top American Novels:
- The three laugh at him for a slow old poke and go on to their pleasure.2019, Paolo Cherchi Usai, The Griffith Project, Volume 9: Films Produced in 1916-18:
- Old Fred is the slowest old poke, isn't he? Suppose I try, Paul.2021, Booth Tarkington, Women:
- I see you shaking your head at me, mother, and reminding me of 'That mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me;' but I don't believe I go on so; if I have nothing to say I keep still, and you'd better be a stupid poke, which I often feel myself, than waste the time with such trash.1871, Mary Webster McClain, Daisy Ward's Work, page 112:
- She was only sixteen, and he was perfectly splendid, and she has plenty of money, and every one talked about it; and when she went anywhere, people looked, you know, and she liked it; but her papa is an old poke, so he's sent them all away. It's too bad, for she was the jolliest thing I ever knew .1912, Louisa May Alcott, An Old-fashioned Girl, page 20:
3 more examples
- I think you are all reasonably well aware that the common picture of the surveying and mapping profession is proabably best exemplified at the present time by the old poke who is out with a rickety old transit, wearing old ragged clothes.1956, “Professional Status of Surveyors and Mappers”, in Surveying and Mapping, volume 16, page 184:
- "Oh, you old poke, you! You think nobody can be grown up but yourself. I really believe they all think I'm a great deal older than I am, and I just hope you won't go and tell them I am not. "Now, will you?"1968, Joseph Kirkland, The Captain of Company K, page 237:
- “That's what you're going to rob?” she asked Cole. “Yep.” He viewed the scene with a hand shading his eyes, then grinned at Billy. “Only a driver and one old poke riding shotgun. You'd think they'd have learned better by now."2014, Eugenia Riley, Bushwhacked Bride:
4
An old, worn-out horse.
- It was feared the dear old poke I had been riding could not keep up with the rest on this long day's journey: so I had "the cook's horse," who did not understand my method of pulling my dear old beast's head from the edge of the ravine gently with my bridle.1872, Edward Everett Hale, Old and New - Volume 6, page 686:
- Probably summer residents, and this old poke won't move out of a walk, and I've no whip.1889, Clara Louise Burnham, Young Maids and Old, page 89:
2 more examples
- Yes, mother, but my horse is such an old poke I was nowhere in the race.2019, Frederic Remington, John Ermine of the Yellowstone:
- It's not the helo's fault, even if it is clunkier than a stumblebum old poke of a plow horse—bless its rotors.2019, M. L. Buchman, At the Slightest Sound:
5
US A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.
- I find from their testimony , which was not contradicted , that the placing of such a poke upon such a colt in such a pasture is not considered dangerous, and that farmers are accustomed so to poke their own horses, but that they are not accustomed to put pokes on or 'hamper' horses owned by other persons without the authorization of the owner.1883, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Vermont, page 70:
- This yoke or poke will prevent any horse from scaling a fence, if well made.1883, Horace R. Allen, The American Farm and Home Cyclopedia, page 285:
6
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Dated The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game.
- […] everywhere you see listings festooned with Goto statements and peppered with peeks and pokes.1984, Electronics & Wireless World, volume 90, page 6:
- One of the major limitations is that the Commodore 64 does not easily support auto-repeat (it must be turned on by a poke instruction from BASIC).1984, Northcon/84, Mini/Micro Northwest-84 Conference Record:
1 more example
- Perhaps all those super hackers who so regularly produce infinite lives etc. could produce pokes to be used by 128K users.1988 July 23, Lloyd Mangram, “Forum”, in Crash, number 54:
7
Informal A notification sent to get another user's attention on social media or an instant messenger.
- It could be described as a poke, but not a friendly one. For those who have not yet succumbed to Facebook, the latest craze on the internet, a ‘poke’ is an electronic greeting sent, for example, to an old friend from university.2007 July 22, David Smith, “Faceoff!”, in The Guardian:
8
A poke bonnet.
- Well then, I declare, I'd rather see Miss Lawton in that old poke – old as it is! –than in the finest new bonnet the Squire's lady ever wore.1857, William Platt, Mothers and sons, page 190:
9
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Slang A hit, especially an extra base hit.
- Derived terms
- better than a poke in the eye, better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick, better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick, blow poke, gunpoke, killer poke, nose poke, slow poke, slowpoke