different between inch vs poke

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Etymology 1

From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynce, borrowed from Latin uncia (“twelfth part”). Doublet of ounce.

Noun

inch (plural inches)

1. A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres.
2. (meteorology) The amount of water which would cover a surface to the depth of an inch, used as a measurement of rainfall.
3. The amount of an alcoholic beverage which would fill a glass or bottle to the depth of an inch.
4. (figuratively) A very short distance.

   "Don't move an inch!"

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (inchi)
• ? Korean: ?? (inchi)

Translations

Verb

inch (third-person singular simple present inches, present participle inching, simple past and past participle inched)

1. (intransitive, followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).

   Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.

   • 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey:

     The window blind had been lowered — Zooey had done all his bathtub reading by the light from the three-bulb overhead fixture—but a fraction of morning light inched under the blind and onto the title page of the manuscript.
2. To drive by inches, or small degrees.
   • 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy

     He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.

3. To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• thou
• mil

Etymology 2

From Scottish Gaelic innis

Noun

inch (plural inches)

1. (Scotland) A small island

Usage notes

• Found especially in the names of small Scottish islands, e.g. Inchcolm, Inchkeith.

Anagrams

• Ch'in, Chin, chin, ichn-

Middle English

Noun

inch

1. Alternative form of ynche

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: p?k, IPA^(key): /p??k/
• (US) enPR: p?k, IPA^(key): /po?k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

Middle English, perhaps from Middle Dutch poken or Middle Low German poken (both from Proto-Germanic *puk-), which is probably imitative.

Verb

poke (third-person singular simple present pokes, present participle poking, simple past and past participle poked)

1. To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick. [from later 14th c.]
2. To stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning.
3. (figuratively) To rummage; to feel or grope around. [from early 19th c.]

4. (transitive, computing) To modify the value stored in (a memory address).
5. (transitive) To put a poke (device to prevent leaping or breaking fences) on (an animal).

6. (transitive) To thrust at with the horns; to gore.
7. (transitive, informal, Internet) To notify (another user) of activity on social media or an instant messenger.
8. (transitive) To thrust (something) in a particular direction such as the tongue.
9. (transitive, slang, vulgar) To penetrate in sexual intercourse.

Synonyms

• (rummage): fumble, glaum, root; see also Thesaurus:feel around
• (penetrate in sexual intercourse): drill, nail, pound; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

poke (plural pokes)

1. A prod, jab, or thrust.
2. (US, slang) A lazy person; a dawdler.
3. (US, slang) A stupid or uninteresting person.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

4. (US) A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.
5. (computing) The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game.
6. (informal, Internet) A notification sent to get another user's attention on social media or an instant messenger.
7. A poke bonnet.

Derived terms

• better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

Etymology 2

From Middle English poke, from Anglo-Norman poke (whence pocket), from Frankish *poka. More at pocket.

Noun

poke (plural pokes)

1. (now regional) A sack or bag. [from early 13th c.]
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, act 2, scene 7:

     And then he drew a dial from his poke,
     And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
     Says very wisely, ‘It is ten o'clock…’

   • 1605, William Camden, Remaines Concerning Brittaine, 1629 edition, Proverbes, page 276:

     When the Pig is proffered, hold vp the poke.

   • 1627, Michael Drayton, Minor Poems of Michael Drayton, 1907 edition, poem Nimphidia:

     And suddainly vntyes the Poke,
     Which out of it sent such a smoke,
     As ready was them all to choke,
     So greeuous was the pother […]

   • 1814, September 4, The Examiner, volume 13, number 349, article French Fashions, page 573:

     … and as to shape, a nightmare has as much. Under the poke and the muff-box, the face sometimes entirely disappears …

   • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, Payback Press 1999, page 91:

     In the summertime they'd reach out and snatch your straw hat right off your head, and if you were fool enough to go after it your poke was bound to be lighter when you came out.

   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, page 138:

     She did not eat blood-oranges. Her maw gived her one in a poke and she was going to throw it in the bin, Oh it is all black.

2. A long, wide sleeve.

   Synonym: poke sleeve

3. (Scotland, Northern Ireland) An ice cream cone.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Either a shortening of, or from the same source as, pocan (“pokeweed”) (q.v.).

Noun

poke (uncountable)

1. (dialectal) pokeweed

Synonyms

• see the list at pokeweed

Translations

Etymology 4

From Hawaiian poke (“slice crossways”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?po?.ke?/

Noun

poke (uncountable)

1. (Hawaii) Slices or cubes of raw fish or other raw seafood, mixed with sesame oil, seaweed, sea salt, herbs, spices, or other flavorful ingredients.

Usage notes

Often typeset as poké to aid pronunciation.

Anagrams

• kepo

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?poke/, [?po?ke?]
• Rhymes: -oke
• Syllabification: po?ke

Etymology 1

From portsari (“doorman”).

Noun

poke

1. (slang) doorman, bouncer (at a bar or nightclub)

Declension

Etymology 2

From porno (“pornography”).

Noun

poke

1. (slang) pornography

Declension

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?poke/

Adverb

poke

1. slightly

Maori

Adjective

poke

1. grimy

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pok, poc, puke

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman poke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??k(?)/

Noun

poke (plural pokes)

1. sack, pouch, bag

Descendants

• English: poke
• Yola: poake, pooke

References

• “p?ke, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Alternative forms

• poque, pouche, puche

Etymology

From Frankish *poka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?.k?/

Noun

poke f (oblique plural pokes, nominative singular poke, nominative plural pokes)

1. sack

   E puis les poudrez bien de sel e les mettez ensemble en une poke de bon kanevaz

Derived terms

• poket

Descendants

• ? Middle English: poc, poke, pooke
  • English: poke (regional)
  • Scots: pok, poke, polk, poik

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *pokowjä-, earlier *p?kewjä-, from pre-Tocharian *b?eh???ow-h?en- (definite), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *b?eh???ús (“arm”). Compare Tocharian B pokai.

Noun

poke

1. arm

References

• Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) , “poko*”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, ?ISBN, page 434