| 释义 |
▪ I. pocket, n.|ˈpɒkɪt|
Forms: 4–6 poket, 5 -ett, 5–8 pockett, 6 -ette, (pokit, 7 poccet), 6– pocket.
[ME. poket, a. Anglo-Norman pokete (13th c. Godef.), mod.Norman dial. pouquette, dim. of ONF. poke, poque, pouque = F. poche, whence dim. pochette: see poke n.1, pouch n. OF. had also a masc. form pochet, pouchet (1396 in Godef.), still dial., also in mod.Norman dial. pouquet.]
1. A bag or sack. Sometimes used as a measure of quantity, varying in capacity according to the commodity contained, and the locality.
Now chiefly used for hops and wool, a pocket of wool being half a sack (in 13th c. a quarter), a pocket of hops about 168 lbs.
1280Memoranda Roll, K. R. m. 13d, Venerunt coram Baronibus et recognoverunt se teneri Bonruncino et sociis suis mercatoribus de Luk' in quatuor saccis lane et uno pochetto, id est in quarta parte unius sacci. c1340Rolls of Parlt. II. 385/1, xx sacz & ix peres de Leyne trovez en xxiii sarplers & en 1 poket. 1526in Dillon Calais & Pale (1892) 90 Item, for evry horseloode of pocketts iiij d. 1535in G. Schanz Engl. Handelspolitik (1881) II. 385 The canvas, that goeth to the pokit with the hey and threde, that goeth to yt, weyeth about 2 nailles. 1706Phillips, Pocket of Wool, the Quantity of half a Sack. See Sack of Wool and Sarplar. 1724De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. I. 128 Here [at Stourbridge Fair] I saw what I have not observ'd in any other Country of England,..a Pocket of Wool. This seems to be first call'd so in Mockery, this Pocket being so big, that it loads a whole Waggon,..and these ordinarily weigh a Ton or 25 Hundred weight of Wool, all in one Bag. 1767Chron. in Ann. Reg. 130/1 There were only eleven pockets of new hops, the quality of which was very bad. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 755 The brightest hops, and those which have the finest colour, are put into bagging of a better quality, and termed pockets. 1809R. Langford Introd. Trade 126, 147 pockets of hops, each weighing 1 cwt. 1 qr. 18 lb. 1876S. Kens. Mus. Catal. §2107 Model of a hand loom..designed to weave sacks or pockets without a seam either at the sides or end. 1907W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 239 A train of pack horses, heavily laden with the weighty ‘pockets’ of wool, toil meekly past. 1928E. Wallace Gunner xxiv. 199 Bales of silk, chests of tea, pockets of rubber. 1940E. C. Studholme Te Waimate 170 Over the hills [the wool] was carried by pack horses..each taking about 150 lbs. in what were called ‘pockets’—loaf shaped packs slung one on each side of the saddle. 1953Word for Word (Whitbread & Co.) 28/1 Pocket, a large sack made to contain roughly one and a half cwts. of dried hops.
2. a. A small bag or pouch worn on the person; spec. one inserted in or attached to a garment, for carrying a purse or other small articles.
c1430Hymns Virg. 62 ‘Apparaile þe propirli’, quod Pride, ‘Loke þi pockettis passe þe lengist gise’. a1450Stockh. Med. MS. i. 61 in Anglia XVIII. 296 In a poket þou it do, Þat þe water may renne þer-fro. 1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 192/1 He bare alwayes about hym, in hys bosome or pocket, a litle booke contayning the Psalmes of Dauid. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 61 Haue you enquir'd yet who pick'd my Pocket? a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 446 A Prodigal is a Pocket with a Hole in the Bottom. 1700T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 67 Here walk'd a French Fop with both his Hands in his Pockets. 1701Swift Mrs. Fr. Harris' Petit. 7 All the money I have..I keep in my pocket, tied about my middle, next my smock. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4072/6 Left in a..Coach.., a white Damask Pocket. 1869Trollope He knew, etc. xxvii, He carried the letter with him in his pocket. 1906Weldon's Ladies' Jrnl. Sept. 90/3 This theatre pocket is a Parisian novelty, worn suspended from the waist, and is intended to hold the handkerchief, fan, opera glasses, etc.
b. esp. That in which money is carried; hence typically used for one's purse or stock of cash; pecuniary resources, private means. empty pocket: (transf.) a person without money.
1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Princess of Wales 1 Apr., I would have paid them the money out of my own pocket. 1731Gay in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 133, I had flattered myself, your law-suit was at an end, and that your own money was in your own pocket. 1765Foote Commissary i. Wks. 1799 II. 9 The bridegroom may put the purchase-money..into his pocket. 1781Cowper Truth 322 Yon cottager..Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night, Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light. 1834L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 252 War empties the pocket; no kingdom can go to war with empty pockets. 1879Farrar St. Paul I. 492 The slave-masters were touched in their pockets, and it filled them with fury. 1892Baring-Gould Trag. Cæsars I. 15 Only the empty pockets and lacklands were excluded. 1894R. Bridges Feast of Bacchus ii. 743 A gentleman can't consider his pocket. Mod. One's hand has to be constantly in one's pocket here.
3. Hence, in various phrases:
a. in pocket: (a) Having money available; in possession of funds; (b) Having (so much) money left over or to profit, as ‘to be ten shillings in pocket by the transaction’.
1751Affect. Narr. of Wager 154 We might indeed have starved..if Bulkeley had not happened to be somewhat in Pocket. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 143 At the end of their peregrination, they are above a hundred crowns in pocket. 1846Jerrold Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lect. xxx, If you'd a chaise of your own..you'd be money in pocket.
b. out of pocket: † out of funds (obs.); to be out of pocket, to be a loser (by some transaction); also (U.S.) transf. to be absent or out of reach.
1693Congreve Old Bach. ii. i, But, egad, I'm a little out of pocket at present. 1737Logan in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) I. 319 The proprietors..complain they are yet out of pocket by it. 1787Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 212 If she goes soon he will still be out of pocket by the Appointment. 1837Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar Ded. (1844) 6, I shall be pounds out of pocket by my conscientious refusal. 1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. iv. 74, I am out of pocket for my expenses. 1974Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 20 Apr. 1a/1 If you..have ever been sick and the only doctor is out of pocket for the weekend, then you know we need more doctors. 1978Internat. Herald Tribune 24 July 14/4 Why does out of pocket..mean ‘out of touch’?
c. to put in one's pocket: To pocket, take or keep to oneself, conceal, suppress.
1652J. Collinges Caveat for Prof. vi. (1653) 32 You had as good have put your tongue in your pocket. 1885W. E. Norris Adrian Vidal xlii, I put my pride in my pocket.
d. in (some one's) pocket: (a) Quite close to, in close attendance upon (some one); (b) Under the personal control or direction of (some one); esp. in phr. to live in each other's pockets: to live in excessively close proximity, to live in mutual dependence.
1812Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 42 Lord Gower..seemed charmed with her, sat in her pocket all the evening, both in a titter. 1851Thackeray Eng. Hum. ii. (1858) 58 He was sitting with the family seat in his pocket. 1881Mallock Rom. 19th Cent. iv. iii, He sits in her pocket every evening. 1959[see grandmother n. 1 c]. 1965F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon vi. 158 We lived..in one another's pockets, so why should there be the privilege of privacy and seclusion for one and not for the other? 1978N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 Feb. 8/2 Architects and painters do not live in each other's pockets in England today.
e. to put one's hand in one's pocket: to (seek to) provide money from one's own resources.
1857C. Kingsley Two Yrs. Ago I. p. xxii, There are other ways of being generous, besides putting your hand in your pocket. 1878H. James Europeans I. iv. 147 Robert Acton would put his hand into his pocket every day in the week if that rattle-pated little sister of his should bid him. 1948E. Waugh Loved One 28 We may have to put our hands in our pockets—I don't suppose old Frank has left much.
†4. A pouch- or pocket-shaped net. Obs. rare—1.
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) i, Elleswhere þei sle hem with smale poketes and with pursnettes, with smale nettes, with hare pipes, and with long nettes.
5. Billiards. One of the open-mouthed bags or pouches placed at the corners and on each side of the table, into which the balls are driven.
1754J. Love Cricket (1770) 5 Or when the Ball, close cushion'd, slides askew, And to the op'ning Pocket runs, a Cou. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. i. §16 At the commencement of the last century, the billiard-table was square, having only three pockets for the balls to run in, situated on one of the sides. 1837Thackeray Ravenswing iii, The billiard-ball eyes..fell plump into the pocket of his heart. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 258 They let their adversary spot the red and take the balls out of the pockets.
6. a. Zool. and Anat. A sac-shaped or pocket-like cavity in the body of an animal; spec.
(a) A blind sac. (b) The cheek-pouch of some rodents, e.g. the Saccomyidæ. (c) The abdominal pouch of a marsupial. (d) The abdominal cavity of a halibut or other fish.
1773Projects in Ann. Reg. 127/1 The Iceland fishermen..beat the bone upon a block with a thick stick, till the pockets, as they term them, come out easily, and thus preserve the sounds entire. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 894 This disposition [in perityphlitic abscesses] to the formation of loculi or pockets often causes much difficulty in the healing. 1899Westm. Gaz. 8 Dec. 12/1 The bullet had struck between the pocket of the arm and the shoulder-blade. 1906Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 Jan. 70 A small walled-off pocket of pus.
b. A sac-like cavity in a plant.
1862Darwin Fertil. Orchids iv. 133, I found pollen masses which had their broad ends pushed by insects into this pocket.
7. a. Mining. A cavity in the earth filled with gold or other ore; an abruptly dilated part of a vein or lode; also, an accumulation of alluvial gold. Also (Austral.), an isolated body of opal or gum. b. A small cavity in a rock; esp. in Geol. a cavity in a rock or stratum filled up with foreign material. c. A subterranean cavity containing water.
a.1850B. Taylor Eldorado ix. (1862) 89 We found many persons at work..searching for veins and pockets of gold. 1873J. E. Tinne Wonderland of Antipodes 54 If a man hits on a good ‘pocket’ of gum. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 576 It [hæmatite iron ore] lies especially in fissures or as the miners call them ‘pockets’, in the rock. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 255/2 The ores [of manganese] are rich, and are found in pockets in a schistose rock. 1896Pall Mall Mag. Jan. 39 [He] had come upon a small ‘pocket’ of nuggets. 1910Lone Hand (Sydney) Mar. 494 A dip in the seam, or some obstruction..temporarily dammed the stream, which thickened, solidified there, and formed a ‘pocket’. 1971J. S. Gunn Opal Terminol. 35 Pocket, small cluster of opal suddenly met in one place.
fig.1879F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 21 When our reading, however deep, runs wholly into ‘pockets’. 1889Daily News 28 Feb. 7/2 A theological romance, which turned out to be a perfect ‘pocket’, was not accepted by an Editor.
b.1850Lit. Gaz. 15 June 405/2 The sands which had gathered in the crevices and pockets of the rocks. 1872G. W. Dasent Three to One III. 251 A great pocket of clay crops out at the edge of the Bagshot sand. 1893Times 3 June 6/6 The chalk..presents..a precipitous front of white, unbroken except by an occasional ‘pocket’ of red soil from above.
c.1852C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 3 Water..without even a ‘pocket’ to run into for escape or concealment. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Pocket...a natural underground reservoir of water.
8. a. A wide pit-like hollow in a cañon or fissure. b. A deep glen or hollow among mountains. c. A spot hemmed in on all sides by high ground. d. A hollow cut out in wood-carving.
a.1869Phillips Vesuv. ix. 250 Fissures..open sometimes into pockets or cavities of larger area. 1884J. G. Bourke Snake Dance Moquis ix. 86 The cañon widened into a pleasant little pocket.
b.1885Roosevelt Hunting Trips v. 128 In many of the pockets or glens in the sides of the hill, the trees grow to some little height.
c.1897Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 59 The grower should avoid flat lands which are hemmed in on all sides by elevations, for these ‘pockets’ are nearly always frosty.
d.1892E. Rowe Chip-carving (1895) 33 A combination of triangles and diamonds all treated as sunk pockets.
9. A recess or cavity resembling a pocket in use or position, as
a. The slot for the reception of the vertical side-pieces of a sash-frame;
b. A receptacle in the cover of a book for a folded map, etc.;
c. A small cabin or coal bunker on board ship;
d. The trap of a weir in which fish are caught.
a1817Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) II. xiv. 285 With so much changing of chaises..I hope..you have not left anything behind you in any of the pockets. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §830 A close inspection of the side of frame will show the amateur where the ‘pocket’ A is. 1898Century Mag. Feb. 531/2 The single females are stowed in ‘pockets’ on both sides of the ships. 1899F. T. Bullen Way Navy 95 In coaling ship the work of distributing the coal throughout the series of pockets that are plastered all around the engines and boilers is of incredible severity. 1900Journ. Wm. of Rubruck (Hakl. Soc.) Contents, Map to Illustrate the Two Journeys... In pocket.
10. A baggy place, a bulge (in a sail).
1899Daily News 21 Oct. 3/4 The mainsails of both yachts were glaringly faulty. There was a big pocket in the Shamrock's, pinching her to leeward.
11. a. Racing. The position in which a competitor is hemmed in by others and so has no chance of winning. (Cf. pocket v. 1 c.)
1890in Cent. Dict.
b. Amer. and Canad. Football. A shielded area formed by blockers from which a player attempts to pass; the formation itself.
1963Time 18 Oct. 94 Myers..is a drop-back ‘pocket’ passer. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10 July 27/5 He is an accurate passer, either from the pocket or on the roll-out.
12. = air-pocket s.v. air n.1 B. III. 1.
1911G. C. Loening Monoplanes & Biplanes ii. 18 Everywhere in the atmosphere, and especially on windy days, there exist ‘pockets’ of high density and of low density. 1917Boy's Own Paper Mar. 273/2 Evidently he had dropped into one of those air eddies which were so dangerous to flying men in the early days of aviation. They, in conjunction with ‘pockets’, accounted for the death of not a few pioneers in flight. 1919C. P. Thompson Cocktails 46 The suddenly uncontrolled Hun staggered and whirled in a treacherous ‘pocket’. 1978H. Kaplan Damascus Cover vii. 60 The plane rolled in a pocket of turbulent air.
13. a. Mil. An area held by troops who are surrounded by opposing forces; an isolated concentration of resistance; also, the men themselves; esp. in phr. pocket of resistance (also transf.).
1918Observer 29 Sept. 7/6 The Anglo-Belgian attack in the north..has reduced the enemy to the necessity of defending..a pocket such as those which brought him to disaster on the Marne and on the Avre. 1927J. M. Keynes Ess. in Biogr. (1933) i. vi. 62 The strategic surrender, the deliberate withdrawal, the attempt to lure the enemy into a pocket where he could be taken in flank. 1941Manch. Guardian Weekly 10 Jan. 20/2 The Australians engaged strong enemy defence pockets to the south-east of this line. 1943Times (Weekly ed.) 24 Apr. 6 Here the Germans had a small pocket, based on the bridge which carried the highway to Gomel over the Dnieper. 1945Daily Express 12 Apr. 4/8 Full aid to liberated Europe..must wait not only until the German army is beaten, but until pockets of resistance have been wiped out. 1959Listener 12 Feb. 287/1 Except for provincial pockets of resistance it is now as successful as any architecture is ever likely to be. Ibid. 29 Oct. 740/2 An enemy ‘pocket of resistance’ was still occupying a wood about half-a-mile away. 1965C. D. Eby Siege of Alcázar (1966) xi. 230 There was..a large pocket of militia barricaded in the seminary. 1966T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 iii. 61 A..battle of attrition in a minor pocket developed during the advance on Rome. 1975G. St. George Proteus Pact (1976) i. 5 Kleist sat on top of an armored personnel carrier and watched the systematic elimination of pockets of resistance.
b. A small area contrasted with or differing from its surroundings in some respect; a local concentration of something. Cf. senses 7 a, b above.
1926Scribner's Mag. Aug. 163/1 The car swerved into the campus, that green, summer-deserted pocket of peace in the little, dusty, traffic-riddled village. 1932Times Educ. Suppl. 2 Jan. p. iv/4 They walked into a pocket of gas and were asphyxiated. 1935Huxley & Haddon We Europeans ii. 53 They do not form definite groups, but occur rather in local pockets where individuals still exhibit characters reminiscent of those remote times. 1937Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXVII. 358 We may regard the adjusted group, if it has proceeded to the stage of new, reified institutions, as a small culture pocket or subculture within the larger culture. 1939British Birds XXXIII. 102 The Black-tailed Godwit is increasingly occurring in the British Isles... The increase is greatest on the south coast of England with pockets elsewhere. 1945Daily Express 22 May 2/4 What is to happen when, in the change from war to peace, there occur the inevitable pockets of unemployment? 1959Times 4 Sept. 4/3 We must conclude that the existence of pockets of heat under the lunar surface is probable. 1976W. H. Canaway Willow-Pattern War xi. 111 There were edelweiss in soil pockets on the rock outcrops. 1978J. Blackburn Dead Man's Handle iii. 36 A pocket of upper-crust suburbia: detached, Regency-style residences with two-car garages.
14. attrib. and Comb. (passing into adj.).
a. Adapted or intended to be carried in the pocket.
1612in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1849) I. 156 Here is a proclamation coming out this day against pocket-dags. a1625Fletcher & Mass. Cust. Country ii. iii, Out with your bodkin, Your pocket-dagger, your stiletto. 1640Brome Antipodes iv. ix, The multiplicity of pocket-watches. 1640E. Verney Let. in F. P. Verney Mem. (1892) I. vii. 174, I pray be pleased to send mee a pocket prayer-book. 1688Boyle Final Causes Nat. Things iv. 153 A pocket-dyal with a magnet needle. 1697W. Dampier Voy. round World (1699) 11 Directing our course by our Pocket Compasses. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4422/8 Lost.., a large blue Turkey-Leather Pocket-Case. 1715Ibid. No. 5336/3 A neat Pocket Edition of the Odes..of Horace. 1726Swift Gulliver II. iii. i. 7, I discovered by my pocket⁓glass several islands to the south-east. 1740J. Williamson (title) The British Angler, or a Pocket-Companion for Gentlemen-Fishers. 1793Beddoes Math. Evid. 138 It is not very easy to believe, that words have the property of shutting up all at once, like pocket telescopes. 1800M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (ed. 3) IV. 145 Lady Augusta had just shown her a French pocket fan. 1827J. F. Cooper Prairie I. vi. 179 Quadruped; seen..by the aid of a pocket-lamp, in the prairies. 1828M. Wilmot Let. 23 Apr. (1935) 316 They all expect to be your pocket dictionarys and lionizers and walking sticks. 1832Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 14 Apr. 86/2, I scarcely recollect a single traveller without his pocket-comb. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. xi. 174 The captain now drew forth that grand lure in the eyes of the savage, a pocket mirror. 1848in H. Howe Hist. Coll. Ohio 493 These little pocket editions of humanity are well cared for by kind dames. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 205, I..looked at the film of liquid through a pocket-lens. 1864G. Meredith Emilia xxxiv, I would buy a pocket-dictionary at one of the ports. 1866‘Mark Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 45 We..ran by a pocket compass in the hands of Captain Fish. 1874Eng. Mech. 1 May 165/2 (title) How to make a pocket camera. 1885Sam Scaramouch 12 Dec. 247/2 If you must have a drink, gentlemen, carry your pocket flasks. 1903C. E. Wolff Mod. Locomotive Practice p. ii (Advt.), The ‘Mechanical Engineer’ Pocket Calculator. 1906M. Corelli Treasure of Heaven 43 Mrs. Sorrel..drew out a black pocket-fan and fanned herself vigorously. 1913Punch 17 Sept. 252 Portrait of gentleman using pocket-clipper to trim beard at back of neck. 1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 July 7/1 (Advt.), Hudson's Bay Company Fine Old Irish Whisky Per Pocket Flasks..50¢. 1917G. B. McCutcheon Green Fancy 56 Barnes found his electric pocket torch and dressed hurriedly. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 25 Oct. 8/1 (Advt.), We are now showing an open face pocket watch, in strong nickel case. 1923Conrad Rover iv. 61 The lieutenant,..with a pocket glass glued to his eye, growled angrily: ‘You can see her now, can't you?’ 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria B.C.) 16 July 10/7 (Advt.), Matches are dangerous. When you are camping in or around the forests, use a pocket lighter. 1927S. Ertz Now East, now West xi. 173 Again that keen glance, over her pocket mirror. 1933M. Arlen Man's Mortality 21 Taking out his pocket-transmitter, he held it near the light. 1939T. S. Eliot Family Reunion i. i. 21 Reflecting a pocket-torch of observation Upon each other's opacity. 1955C. Smith Speaking Eye iii. 33 He took out a pocket comb and ran it through his dark wavy hair. 1957Practical Wireless XXXIII. 534/2 Messrs. Cossar announce a neat printed circuit transistor pocket radio. 1972Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iv. iii. 21 Pocket lamp, portable luminaire embodying a miniature lamp fed by a dry battery or accumulator. 1972D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play xi. 92 Ivansong..kept the pocket radio close to his ear. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 71/1 Aldus used it [sc. italic type] for the pocket editions of classical authors which he printed in Venice around the year 1500. 1977J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 20 Most pocket cameras use a fixed lens with a focal length of about 25 mm. 1978Daily Tel. 19 Sept. 8/6 Semiconductors..are an essential part of micro⁓processor technology and are used in pocket calculators, electronic watches, mini-computers, and many other modern devices.
b. Small enough to be carried in the pocket, or figured as being so; tiny, diminutive.
1621Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 508 Two poore Breuiarists, with our small pocket-learning. 1820M. Edgeworth Let. 14 May (1979) 128 My dear little pocket Prince de Beauvoau for me!—worth all the Russian bears and giants put together. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Land Wks. (Bohn) II. 18 A pocket Switzerland, in which the lakes and mountains are on a sufficient scale to fill the eye and touch the imagination. 1860Reade Cloister & H. iv, Now this pocket-athlete [a dwarf] was insanely fond of griping the dinner-table with both hands and so swinging. 1936Sun (Baltimore) 18 May 8/3 No decisive victory in the Austrian pocket dictators' duel is possible without profound repercussions. 1951N. M. Gunn Well at World's End xxi. 174 The garden of a gentleman farmer, a pocket laird. 1972Listener 28 Dec. 898/1 The producer is not altogether the little pocket-dictator... He is assisted by a colleague, usually an expert on the topic to be discussed. 1977Time 8 Aug. 30/1 Charles [Prince, of Luxembourg] was long active in promoting business and industry in his pocket principality.
c. (from 2.) Having reference to money; arising from pecuniary considerations.
1705in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 156 The personal interest and pocket gain of one Single person. 1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 160 All persons are most open to pocket arguments, and here came one.
d. Private, secret.
1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 543 Being by a secret or pocket deed to be defeated of the incumbrance he has advanced his money for.
e. Of warships: armoured and equipped like a ship of the class named, but smaller.
1930Economist 1 Feb. 227/1 The technical progress represented by Germany's ‘pocket battleship’ of identical tonnage but heavier armament. 1932Sun (Baltimore) 17 Sept. 1/1 (heading) New pocket cruiser to be started October 1. 1941Hutchinson's Pictorial Hist. War 14 May–8 July 89 Some of the latest and fastest motor launches..are known as ‘pocket destroyers’. 1942H. Richmond War at Sea Today 27 The ‘pocket battleships’ are protected by armour against which 6-in.-gun fire could not be expected to be fully effective at long ranges. 1951Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 632/1 Aided by George (now Sir George) Binney, three ‘pocket freighters’ were rapidly built in British shipyards. 1974G. Jenkins Bridge of Magpies ii. 40 We heard the sound of heavy guns: a raider or a pocket battleship, we thought.
15. Special Comb.: † pocket allowance = pocket-money; pocket beach Physical Geogr., a small, narrow beach between two headlands or in a similar sheltered position; pocket billiards, (a) a North American type of pool (pool n.3 3); (b) slang (orig. Schoolboys'), manipulation of the male genitals (cf. ball n.1 15 b) by the pocketed hands; also phr. to play pocket billiards; pocket-borough, a borough of which the parliamentary representation was under the control of one person or family; pocket-burner (humorous), a coin in the pocket (in allusion to the saying used of one who cannot keep money, that the coin burns a hole in the pocket); † pocket-cloth, a pocket-handkerchief; pocket-cutter, a thief who cuts pockets; pocket-expenses, small personal outlays; pocket-filled a., having the pockets full, rich; pocket-fish = angler1 2; pocket-flap, pocket-lid, a lappet covering a pocket; pocket-gopher = gopher n.1 1; † pocket-hay, pocket-net: see quot.; † pocket-hoop, a hoop consisting of two parts, one worn on each hip, and serving as a pocket; pocket-hunter (see quot. 1906); pocket-judgement: see quots.; pocket-like a., resembling a pocket; pocket-miner U.S. = pocket-hunter; so pocket-mining vbl. n.; pocket-mouse, a rodent of the family Saccomyidæ, a pouched mouse; pocket pager = pager n.3; so pocket-paging vbl. n.; pocket passer Amer. and Canad. Football, one who passes from the pocket (pocket n. 11 b); pocket-pedlar U.S. (see quot.); pocket-plum = bladder-plum (bladder n. 10): see quots.; pocket-rat = gopher n.1 1; pocket rot, a fungus infection causing localized decay in the trunks or roots of trees; also with prefixed defining word (e.g. brown pocket rot); pocket-sheriff: see quots.; pocket-size a., of a size suitable for carrying in the pocket; hence fig., petty, small-scale; also pocket-sized adj.; pocket stay (see quot.); † pocket-tortoise, a pocket tortoise-shell comb; pocket valley Physical Geogr., a steep-sided, usu. flat-floored valley at the head of which a stream emerges at the base of a steep slope; pocket Venus, a small and beautiful woman; also transf.; pocket veto: see quot. See also pocket-book, -handkerchief, etc.
1813Jane Austen Pride & Prej. III. viii. 143 Her board and *pocket allowance, and the continual presents in money, which passed to her, through her mother's hands.
1893N. S. Shaler in Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Survey XIII. 141 Where..there are islands or shoals lying on either side of considerable reentrant, a curious action arises, which leads to the formation of what we may term ‘*pocket beaches’. 1932W. H. Emmons et al. Geol. ix. 254 On rocky coasts beaches of boulders and cobblestones commonly form at the heads of indentations, although occasionally sand may occupy such positions. These pocket beaches..are found along the coast of California at Carmel, at La Jolla, and at many other places. 1976A. N. Strahler Princ. Earth Sci. xvii. 250 Shingle beaches form in the most sheltered locations—in bays between rocky promontories—and are called pocket beaches... They are typically crescent-shaped and are concave toward the sea.
1913J. T. Stoddard Science of Billiards vii. 152 *Pocket Billiards. The more common pool games are played on tables with pockets, and with balls 21/4 inches in diameter,—slightly smaller than the ball used in billiards. 1917Billiards Mag. Dec. 13/1 Greenleaf..began to play pocket billiards 6 years ago... His ambition is to win the pocket billiard championship. 1940S. Spender Backward Son ii. 94 He paused, feeling in his trouser pockets with his hands, with a familiar gesture of the class room which the boys knew as ‘pocket billiards’. 1949F. Sargeson I saw in my Dream i. 40, I don't remember nothing about when school was in except him playing pocket billiards. 1963Landfall Mar. 14 A pillar of our..community,..addicted to long volleys of handball, I mean pocket billiards. 1971A. Burgess MF ii. 31 Saint Face, as if wishing to play pocket-billiards with my balls, thrust his hands in from the rear.
1856Miss Mulock J. Halifax xxiv, Satisfied that,..despite the unheard-of absurdity of a contested election, his *pocket-borough was quite secure. 1877Black Green Past. iv, There was not half as much mischief done by the old pocket-borough system as there is by this money qualification. 1895C. R. B. Barrett Surrey iii. 80 Horne Tooke..sat for the pocket borough of Sarum.
1848Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. iv, One that..never met you after a hail-storm without lightening himself of a few *pocket-burners.
a1704T. Brown Two Oxf. Schol. Wks. 1730 I. 3 Cannot I wipe mine eyes with the fair *pocket-cloth?
1885Milnor (Dakota) Teller 5 June 2/3 Deck hands on the steamer..were being robbed by *pocket-cutters among the roustabouts.
1751Smollett Per. Pic. xxxiii, A purse..to defray her *pocket-expenses in her absence. 1905G. B. Shaw in Grand Mag. Feb. 116 If you keep the pocket expenses down to twelve and six.
1886W. J. Tucker E. Europe 237 Let the empty titles and empty pockets marry the title-mad and *pocket-filled Jewesses.
1896Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 8/1 The angler is known by various names, including *Pocket-fish, Sea-devil, Fishing-frog, Toad-fish, Briarbot, and Wide-gab.
1873E. Eggleston Myst. Metropolisville iv. 37 She would..explain how the *pocket-gophers built their mounds. 1932S. Zuckerman Social Life Monkeys & Apes iv. 59 The animals of the first sub-group are those that spend the anœstrus in solitude... Examples are the jaguar of Central America and the pocket gopher of the United States. 1977R. B. Cowles Desert Jrnl. xx. 209 A pocket gopher or..a beaver burrowed through the bank.
1704Dict. Rust. et Urb., *Pocket-Hayes,..certain short Nets wherewith to take Pheasants alive... They are about a yard long.
1790R. Tyler Contrast i. i, You really think the *pocket-hoop unbecoming. 1834J. R. Planché Brit. Costume xxii. (1847) 416 The pocket hoop is ridiculed in 1780 by a print in which a girl so attired is placed beside a donkey laden with a pair of panniers.
1906Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 159/1 They [sc. prospectors] include the ‘*pocket-hunter’ who disdains to search for gold except in the form of pockets. 1947Field & Stream June 30/3 Now and then a ‘pocket-hunter’..will find a place in the hills containing perhaps a few hundred dollars in gold.
1736–59M. Bacon Abridgm. Law of Execution (1778) II. 331 The addition of the King's Seal, which was never required to any Contract at Common Law, was to authenticate and make the Security of a higher Nature than any other then known..thus it must be presumed from the force of them, which is equal to Judgments of the Superior Courts, they obtained the Name of *Pocket Judgments. 1872Wharton's Law Lex. (ed. 5), Pocket-judgment, a statute-merchant which was enforceable at any time after non-payment on the day assigned, without further proceedings.
1890Pall Mall G. 15 May 3/2 There is a new tailor-made jacket called the ‘Cavalier’... It falls down to the hips and has heavy *pocket-lids and lappels.
1880A. Wilson in Gentl. Mag. CCXLVI. 48 Nose, eyes, and ears..arise as *pocket-like ingrowths from the epiblast or outer layer of the body.
1884Cassell's Nat. Hist. III. 124 These animals [Saccomyidæ]..by American writers..are called ‘*Pocket Mice’.
1902J. London Daughter of Snows 207 The *pocket-miner's eyes sparkled. 1909‘Mark Twain’ Is Shakes. Dead? vii. 75, I have been a ‘pocket’ miner—a sort of gold mining not findable in any but one little spot in the world.
1872― Roughing It 436 In that one little corner of California is found a species of mining..called ‘*pocket-mining’.
1975Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard 6 Dec. 25/1 Off in a side office, MacLean Hunter manager Jack French talks to a client about ordering ‘*pocket-pagers’. 1977Pocket pager [see pager n.3].
1973Times 11 Jan. 15/2 The control room is the centre of a vast and flexible intercom system which complements and extends the telephone network..and the *pocket-paging system.
1963*Pocket passer [see pocket n. 11 b]. 1977Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Nov. 53/6 If Wade, a pocket passer, is harassed by the Eskimoes' blitzing linebackers, he could throw a number of interceptions.
1892Nation (N.Y.) 28 July 66/1 *Pocket-pedlers..who stand on the street corners with a bottle in one pocket and a glass in the other, and will sell you a drink in a doorway or a horse-shed.
1899G. Massee Text-bk. Plant Dis. 85 ‘*Pocket-plums’, or ‘Bladder-plums’... The..disease of plum-trees..caused by a minute parasitic fungus [Exoascus pruni]... Instead of developing into a normal plum,..grows..into a deformed, useless structure... The entire structure is dry, and not at all fleshy..[and] also hollow, the ‘stone’ containing the seed not being developed. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 560/2 Many of these Taphrineæ are important parasites—e.g. Pocket plums and Witches' Brooms on Birches, &c., are due to their action.
1926Jrnl. Agric. Res. XXXIII. 687 As the brown cubical rot produced [by Trametes subrosea]..is more or less restricted to definite pockets in the wood, it has been called brown-*pocket rot. 1938J. S. Boyce Forest Pathol. xvii. 451 Pocket dry rot..is a brown pocket rot of the heartwood of living incense cedar caused by Polyporus amarus. 1956F. W. Jane Structure of Wood ix. 208 In the pocket rots the areas of decay are confined to pockets. 1972Mycologia LXIV. 1258 [Phellinus torulosus] occurs..mostly on south⁓western white pine..in which it causes a white pocket rot of the roots.
1765Blackstone Comm. (1768) I. ix. 342 The practice of occasionally naming what are called *pocket-sheriffs, by the sole authority of the crown. 1809Christian Blackstone's Comm. I. ix. 341 note, When the king appoints a person sheriff, who is not one of the three nominated in the exchequer, he is called a pocket-sheriff. It is probable, that no compulsory instance of the appointment of a pocket-sheriff ever occurred.
1909Daily Chron. 13 Nov. 3/2 They form a serviceable little group of *pocket-size manuals. 1973P. Evans Bodyguard Man xxx. 183 You know what you are... Just a latter-day Judas, pocket size.
1907Daily Chron. 14 Aug. 3/2 A new *pocket-sized edition of Mr. Edward Hulme's ‘Wild Fruits of the Countryside’ is being published. 1954Koestler Invisible Writing xxiii. 253 Our Jan..was a pocket-sized Stalin.
1964McCall's Sewing ii. 31/2 *Pocket stay, a strip of interfacing sewn to the wrong side of a pocket opening for reinforcement.
1687Sedley Bellam. Prol., Wks. 1722 II. 87 Nor Perruque comb'd, nor *Pocket-Tortoise stirr'd.
1942O. D. von Engeln Geomorphol. xxii. 569 Seepage at the bases of the outer scarps [of uplifted coral reefs] promotes the formation of gullies by headward erosion through solution-sapping. *Pocket valleys, with vertical head and side walls and a nearly flat floor, are..opened up by this process. 1966J. Wyckoff Rock, Time, & Landforms xii. 281 Whereas the blind valley ends at a blank wall, the so-called pocket valley begins at a blank wall. A pocket valley forms where water emerges near the foot of the slope, dissolving out the rock around and below the point of emergence. 1971J. N. Jennings Karst vi. 112 A distinction is sometimes made between steepheads incised to an impervious basement and pocket valleys of the same general nature but within the karst rock outcrop.
1869S. R. Hole Bk. about Roses viii. 125 The lovely little Banksian Rose..this *pocket, or rather button-hole, Venus. 1921W. de la Mare Memoirs of Midget xxxiii. 229 Aunt Alice calls you her ‘pocket Venus’, and she means it, too, in her own sly way. 1969H. K. Fleming Day they kidnapped Queen Victoria vi. 106 Four years had gone by, since, as the ‘Pocket Venus’, she had been the rage and toast of society. 1979‘P. O'Connor’ Into Strong City ii. xxvii. 98 Nancy was dark and petite, perfectly formed—the proverbial pocket venus.
1842Ohio Statesman 19 Dec. 3/1 (heading) The *pocket vetoes. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. I. 74 note, If Congress adjourns within the ten days allowed the President for returning the bill, it is lost. His retaining it under these circumstances at the end of a session is popularly called a ‘pocket veto’. 1973Time 25 June 20/3 As presidential counsel, he worked out the legal basis for Nixon's impoundment of funds, broad use of pocket vetoes and Executive privilege.
▪ II. pocket, v.|ˈpɒkɪt|
[f. pocket n.: cf. F. pocheter (1610 in Godef.).]
1. trans. To put into one's pocket. Also with up.
1589Pasquill's Counter-C. 4 The goodly frame of this Common-Weale shall fall, and Banck-rouptes and Atheists pocket uppe the peeces. 1615Day Festivals xii. (1615) 338 Yet would hee not pocket a Penny of it. 1631Massinger Emperor East i. ii, Petitions not sweetened With gold,..if received, are pocketed, not read. 1749Smollett Gil Blas i. ii. I. 5, I stopt short, and pocketting my ducats in a great hurry, took out some rials. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xviii, He shut up and pocketed his sermon, and followed his flock. 1899F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 219 Our friendly hoveller pocketed his five pounds and departed.
b. To confine or enclose as in a pocket: in quot. 1681, to imprison. (Chiefly in pass.)
1681Dryden Span. Fryar iv. ii, With Intent to sell the publick Safety, And pocket up his Prince. 1877Winchell Reconc. Sci. & Rel. v. (1881) 100 It has been assumed that energy may be pocketed in portions of matter, to be let loose on certain occasions. 1890Cent. Dict. s.v., A pocketed valve. 1897Harper's Mag. Apr. 753 The petty port of Guaymas, pocketed on the California Gulf.
c. Racing. To hem in (a competitor) in front and at the sides, so as to prevent him from winning.
1890in Cent. Dict. 1901Scotsman 16 Sept. 3/5 He tried to squeeze through between Fleur d'Eté and Sidus, and for his indiscretion he was very properly pocketed.
2. To take possession of for one's own, to appropriate: sometimes with implication of dishonesty.
1637R. Humfrey tr. St. Ambrose ii. 41 Pocketing and pursing up..the fruits of other mens labours. 1769Junius Lett. xxix. (1799) I. 204 note, She ordered every gown and trinket to be sold, and pocketed the money. 1786Jefferson Corr. (1829) II. 11 They [the English] say, they will pocket our carrying trade as well as their own. 1879J. C. Cox Ch. of Derbysh. IV. 77 These sums were pocketed by Edward VI, or rather by his advisers. 1898Fortn. Rev. Jan. 99 The object of Sweden being..to realise her long-cherished hopes by quietly ‘pocketing’ Norway.
3. fig.
a. To take or accept (an affront, etc.) without showing resentment; to submit to, endure meekly, ‘swallow’. † Formerly with up.
1589Greene Spanish Masquerado Wks. (Grosart) V. 273 Thus the great Generall of Spaine was content to pockette vppe this Dishonour to saue his life. 1595Shakes. John iii. i. 200 Well ruffian, I must pocket vp these wrongs. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 214 If he..pocket a wrong, and hold his hands, he is a coward. 1737Common Sense I. 139 Some great Men who can pocket up a Kick or a Cuff with as good an Air as they cou'd a Bribe. 1769Polit. Register V. 229 Your grace would have pocketed the affront. 1891Leeds Mercury 2 May 7/1 The United States must pocket the rebuff with a pleasant diplomatic smile.
b. To conceal, give no indication of, suppress (pride, anger, or other feeling); to refrain from publishing (a report, letter, etc.); in U.S. politics (of the President or the Governor of a State): To retain (a bill) unsigned, so as to prevent it from becoming law (cf. pocket veto, pocket n. 15).
1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 67, Ant. If but one of his pockets could speake, would it not say he lyes? Seb. I, or very falsely pocket vp his report. 1750Chesterfield Lett. 1 Nov., Pocket all your knowledge with your watch, and never pull it out in company unless desired. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 115 The other generals, pocketing their pride,..handed over the undivided responsibility to Xanthippus. 1885[implied at pocketing vbl. n. below].
4. Billiards. To drive (a ball) into one of the pockets. (pocket n. 5.)
1780Char. in Ann. Reg. 16/1 It was absolutely necessary to make it rebound from two different parts of the cushion before it could pocket the other. 1873Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 481 After being pocketed or forced off the table, the red ball must be spotted on the top spot.
5. To hold under private control; esp. the representation of a constituency. Cf. pocket-borough, pocket n. 15.
1882Schouler Hist. U.S. I. 10 He was fond of his State.., and loyal to some one of the blood families who contended for the honor of pocketing the borough in which he voted.
6. To furnish with pockets. (Chiefly in pass.)
1896Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 2/1 One block of beautiful wavy white quartz was thickly pocketed..with the yellow metal.
7. Path. and Surg. To convert or form into a pouch, cavity, or depression.
1885–8Fagge & Pye-Smith Princ. Med. (ed. 2) II. 612 The exudation being so effused into the meshes of the papillæ and Malpighian layer that the cavity is ‘pocketed’ and shows a central depression or umbilicus. 1895Syd. Soc. Lex., Pocketing (Med. and Surg.), forming a pocket or pouch;..a method of treating the pedicle in ovariotomy.
8. intr. To form pockets or bag-like recesses.
b. To pucker or become bagged. rare. U.S.
1614Camden Rem., Apparell 234 Of the long pocketting sleeues in the time of King Henry the fourth, Hoccliue..song. 1873Mrs. Whitney Other Girls xxv, That carpet?..why, it hadn't begun to pocket yet. 1884N. & Q. 29 Mar. 259/1 In describing the pocketing sleeve of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, to draw attention to the fact that it still exists in the heraldic charge known as the maunch.
Hence ˈpocketed ppl. a., ˈpocketing vbl. n., (a) the action of the vb.; (b) material for pockets; also ˈpocketing ppl. a.
15971st Pt. Return Parnass. v. i. 1448 A lunaticke bawdie trull, a pocketinge queane. 1614,1884Pocketing sleeve [see 8]. 1638Ford Fancies iv. i, The pocketing Of some well-looking ducats. 1879Trollope John Caldigate II. xxi. 288 They who were less privileged had fed themselves with pocketed sandwiches. 1885L. W. Spring Kansas 260 Legislators who..could not be thwarted by any such trifle as the pocketing of a bill. 1885–8Pocketed [see 7]. 1933J. E. Liberty Practical Tailoring v. 64 The pocketing should be about 15½ in. to 16 in. long. 1934T. S. Eliot Rock i. 10 With pocketed hands..We stand about in open places. 1960E. Ennion House on Shore ix. 108 They would have the greatest difficulty in taking off again: pocketing in snow or sand might easily prevent it. 1963J. Osborne Dental Mechanics for Students (ed. 5) ix. 165 The extent of periodontal pocketing will also be shown. 1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 97 Pocketing, strong cotton used for men's pockets. 1974C. Ryan Bridge too Far i. iii. 29 Though pocketed—the sea lay behind them to the north and west, and Canadians and British were pressing in from the south and east—they nevertheless controlled most of the southern bank of the estuary. |