Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To take fish or game illegally, especially by trespassing on another's property.
  • intransitive verb To take or appropriate something unfairly or illegally.
  • intransitive verb To encroach on another person's rights or responsibilities.
  • intransitive verb Sports To play a ball out of turn or in another's territory, as in doubles tennis.
  • intransitive verb To become muddy or broken up from being trampled. Used of land.
  • intransitive verb To sink into soft earth when walking.
  • intransitive verb To take (fish or game) illegally, especially by trespassing on another's property.
  • intransitive verb To take or appropriate unfairly or illegally.
  • intransitive verb Sports To play (a ball) out of turn or in another's territory.
  • intransitive verb To make (land) muddy or broken up by trampling.
  • transitive verb To cook in a boiling or simmering liquid.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To poke; thrust; push; put.
  • To stab; pierce; spear: as, to poach fish.
  • To tread; break up or render slushy by frequent treading; mark with footprints.
  • To make a thrust in or as in sword-play.
  • To be penetrable, as soft muddy or marshy ground; be damp and swampy.
  • To cook by breaking the shell and dropping the contents whole into boiling water: said of eggs.
  • To intrude or encroach upon another's preserves for the purpose of stealing game; kill and carry off game in violation of law.
  • To trespass upon, especially for the purpose of killing and stealing game.
  • To gain an unfair advantage at the start of a race.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To become soft or muddy.
  • transitive verb To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel.
  • transitive verb To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder.
  • intransitive verb To steal or pocket game, or to carry it away privately, as in a bag; to kill or destroy game contrary to law, especially by night; to hunt or fish unlawfully.
  • transitive verb obsolete To stab; to pierce; to spear, as fish.
  • transitive verb obsolete To force, drive, or plunge into anything.
  • transitive verb To make soft or muddy by trampling.
  • transitive verb obsolete To begin and not complete.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, intransitive to take game or fish illegally while trespassing on someone's property
  • verb transitive, intransitive to take anything illegally or unfairly
  • verb transitive, intransitive to cause an employee or customer to switch from a competing company to your own company
  • verb transitive to cook something in simmering water
  • verb To become soft or muddy.
  • verb To make soft or muddy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb hunt illegally
  • verb cook in a simmering liquid

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete French pocher, to poke, thrust, intrude, from Old French pochier, to poke, gouge, of Germanic origin.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Back-formation from Middle English poched, poached, from poche, dish of poached eggs, from Old French, from past participle of pochier, to poach eggs, from poche, pocket, bag (from their appearance), of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French pocher ("poke"), from Old French pochier ("poke out")

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

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Examples

Comments

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  • used in the sense of to trample ground

    September 29, 2008

  • I perfectly poached egg is delightful.

    December 21, 2009