poke

verb

/pəʊk/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they poke	/pəʊk/ /pəʊk/
he / she / it pokes	/pəʊks/ /pəʊks/
past simple poked	/pəʊkt/ /pəʊkt/
past participle poked	/pəʊkt/ /pəʊkt/
-ing form poking	/ˈpəʊkɪŋ/ /ˈpəʊkɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

jump to other results

[transitive] to quickly push your fingers or another object into somebody/something synonym prod
- poke somebody/something with something She poked him in the ribs with her elbow.
- poke something into something She poked her elbow into his ribs.
- poke somebody/something I'm sick of being poked and prodded by doctors.
- She got up and poked the fire (= to make it burn more strongly).
[transitive] poke something + adv./prep. to push something somewhere or move it in a particular direction with a small quick movement
- He poked his head around the corner to check that nobody was coming.
- Someone had poked a message under the door.
- Don't poke her eye out with that stick!
- The man poked a finger at my shirt.
[intransitive] + adv./prep. if an object is poking out of, through, etc. something, you can see a part of it that is no longer covered by something else
- The end of the cable was left poking out of the wall.
- A bony elbow poked through a hole in his sweater.
- Clumps of grass poked up through the snow.
[transitive] poke a hole in something (with something) to make a hole in something by pushing your finger or another object into it
- The kids poked holes in the ice with sticks.
[transitive] poke somebody (taboo, slang) (of a man) to have sex with somebody

Word OriginMiddle English: origin uncertain; compare with Middle Dutch and Middle Low German poken, of unknown ultimate origin. The noun dates from the late 18th cent.

Idioms

poke fun at somebody/something

to say unkind things about somebody/something in order to make other people laugh at them synonym ridicule
- Her novels poke fun at the upper class.
- She’s always poking fun at herself.
Topics Personal qualitiesc2

poke/stick your nose into something

(informal) to try to become involved in something that should not involve you
- He’s always poking his nose into other people’s business.

poke

noun

/pəʊk/

Idioms

jump to other results

[countable, usually singular] the action of quickly pushing your fingers or another object into somebody/something
- to give the fire a poke
- He gave me a poke in the ribs to wake me up.
- When I mentioned the money I got a poke in the back.
- Carrie gave him a poke in the side.
[uncountable] (British English) power in a car
- I prefer something with a bit more poke.

Word OriginMiddle English: origin uncertain; compare with Middle Dutch and Middle Low German poken, of unknown ultimate origin. The noun dates from the late 18th cent.

Idioms

have a poke around

(informal) to look carefully around a place to see what you can find; to try to find out information about somebody/something
- His mother often goes into his room and has a good old poke around.

(buy) a pig in a poke

if you buy a pig in a poke, you buy something without seeing it or knowing if it is good enough
- Buying from a catalogue can mean buying a pig in a poke.

take a poke at somebody/something

(North American English, old-fashioned, informal) to make an unkind remark about somebody/something; to laugh at somebody/something