pocket Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a small pouch inside a garment for carrying small articles
  2. noun an enclosed space
    sac; pouch; sack.
    • the trapped miners found a pocket of air
  3. noun a supply of money
    • they dipped into the taxpayers' pockets
  4. noun (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. noun a hollow concave shape made by removing something
    scoop.
  6. noun a local region of low pressure or descending air that causes a plane to lose height suddenly
    air pocket; air hole.
  7. noun 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. noun (anatomy) saclike structure in any of various animals (as a marsupial or gopher or pelican)
    pouch.
  9. noun an opening at the corner or on the side of a billiard table into which billiard balls are struck
  10. verb put in one's pocket
    • He pocketed the change
  11. verb take unlawfully
    bag.

WordNet


Pock"et noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  1. A bag or pouch; especially; a small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles, particularly money; hence, figuratively, money; wealth.
  2. One of several bags attached to a billiard table, into which the balls are driven.
  3. A large bag or sack used in packing various articles, as ginger, hops, cowries, etc. ✍ In the wool or hop trade, the pocket contains half sack, or about 168 Ibs.; but it is a variable quantity, the articles being sold by actual weight.
  4. (Arch.) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
  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.
  6. (Nat.) A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
  7. (Zoöl.) Same as Pouch. Pocket is often used adjectively, or in the formation of compound words usually of obvious signification; as, pocket comb, pocket compass, pocket edition, pocket handkerchief, pocket money, pocket picking, or pocket-picking, etc.
Pock"et transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Pocketed; present participle & verbal noun Pocketing
Definitions
  1. To put, or conceal, in the pocket; as, to pocket the change.
    He would pocket the expense of the license. Sterne.
  2. To take clandestinely or fraudulently.
    He pocketed pay in the names of men who had long been dead. Macaulay.
    Shak.

Webster 1913