poke
poke Lexical Profile
poke Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To jab, prod, or push someone or something with a finger, stick, or other pointed object.
"He used a long iron rod to poke the glowing embers in the fireplace."
To protrude, extend, or stick out from a surface or confining space.
"The first green shoots of the crocuses began to poke through the melting snow."
To make a hole or perforation in something by jabbing or thrusting.
"Be sure to poke a few small holes in the lid of the container so steam can escape."
To search, pry, or rummage around casually or inquisitively.
"We spent a rainy afternoon poking around the antique shops in the historic district."
• noun
A quick jab, prod, or thrust made with a finger or a pointed object.
"She gave her sleeping brother a gentle poke in the ribs to wake him up before the train arrived."
A traditional Hawaiian dish consisting of diced raw fish, such as tuna or salmon, marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil and typically served over rice with vegetables.
"For lunch, we ordered bowls of fresh tuna poke topped with sliced avocado, seaweed, and sesame seeds."
American A tall perennial herbaceous plant (Phytolacca americana) native to North America, having reddish stems, clusters of dark purple berries, and toxic mature roots and leaves; pokeweed.
"Tall stalks of wild poke grew along the sunny edges of the rural pasture."
American The tender young shoots and leaves of the pokeweed plant, cooked thoroughly by boiling in multiple changes of water and eaten as a traditional spring green in the southern United States.
"Her grandmother knew how to parboil young poke several times in spring to prepare a safe, traditional dish of greens."
A small bag, sack, or pouch, now used chiefly in regional dialects or in the idiom 'a pig in a poke'.
"The old proverb warns against buying a pig in a poke without inspecting the goods first."
Word Nuance & Usage
As a noun referring to the Hawaiian raw fish dish, 'poke' is a loanword pronounced with two syllables (/poʊˈkeɪ/), whereas all other English senses are pronounced as a single syllable (/poʊk/).
• Rhymes for poke
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The verb and its related noun meaning a prod derive from Middle English poken, related to Middle Dutch poken ('to prod'). The regional sense meaning a bag or sack comes from Old North French poque, while the culinary dish is borrowed directly from Hawaiian poke, meaning 'to slice or cut crosswise into pieces'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.