poke
verb/pəʊk/
/pəʊk/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| 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/ |
- [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
See poke in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarypoke 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.
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.
Check pronunciation:
poke