poach

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

poach, v. t. [F. pocher to place in a pocket, to poach eggs (the yolk of the egg being as it were pouched in the white), from poche pocket, pouch. See Pouch, v. & n.].

•  To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]
•  To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder.  Garth.  [1913 Webster]

poach, v. i. 

 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; as, to poach for rabbits or for salmon.  [1913 Webster]

poach, v. t. [Cf. OF. pocher to thrust or dig out with the fingers, to bruise (the eyes), F. pouce thumb, L. pollex, and also E. poach to cook eggs, to plunder, and poke to thrust against.].

•  To stab; to pierce; to spear, as fish.  Carew.  [1913 Webster]
•  To force, drive, or plunge into anything.  [1913 Webster]

  "His horse poching one of his legs into some hollow ground."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make soft or muddy by trampling.  Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]
•  To begin and not complete.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

poach, v. i. 

 To become soft or muddy.  [1913 Webster]
"Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and poach in winter."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

poach, v.tr.
1 cook (an egg) without its shell in or over boiling water.
2 cook (fish etc.) by simmering in a small amount of liquid.

Derivative

poacher n.

poach, v.
1 tr. (also absol.) catch (game or fish) illegally.
2 intr. (often foll. by on) trespass or encroach (on another's property, ideas, etc.).
3 tr. appropriate illicitly or unfairly (a person, thing, idea, etc.).
4 tr. Tennis etc. take (a shot) in one's partner's portion of the court.
5 a tr. trample or cut up (turf) with hoofs. b intr. (of land) become sodden by being trampled.

Derivative

poacher n.

Etymology

earlier poche, perh. f. F pocher put in a pocket (as POACH(1))

THESAURUS

poach

abstract, and, annex, appropriate, bag, bake, barbecue, baste, blanch, boil, boost, borrow, braise, brew, broil, brown, coddle, cook, cop, crib, curry, defraud, devil, do, do to perfection, embezzle, extort, filch, fire, fricassee, frizz, frizzle, fry, griddle, grill, heat, hook, lift, make off with, nip, oven-bake, palm, pan, pan-broil, parboil, pilfer, pinch, prepare, prepare food, purloin, roast, run away with, rustle, saute, scallop, scrounge, sear, shirr, shoplift, simmer, snare, snatch, snitch, steal, steam, stew, stir-fry, swindle, swipe, take, thieve, toast, walk off with

ROGET THESAURUS

poach

Stealing

VB steal, thieve, rob, mug, purloin, pilfer, filch, prig, bag, nim, crib, cabbage, palm, abstract, appropriate, plagiarize, convey away, carry off, abduct, kidnap, crimp, make off with, walk off with, run off with, run away with, spirit away, seize, plunder, pillage, rifle, sack, loot, ransack, spoil, spoliate, despoil, strip, sweep, gut, forage, levy blackmail, pirate, pickeer, maraud, lift cattle, poach, smuggle, run, badger, bail up, hold up, stick up, bunco, bunko, filibuster, swindle, peculate, embezzle, sponge, mulct, rook, bilk, pluck, pigeon, fleece, defraud, obtain under false pretenses, live by one's wits, rob Peter to pay Paul, borrow of Peter to pay Paul, set a thief to catch a thief, disregard the distinction between meum and tuum, fence, launder, launder money.

Illegality

N illegality, lawlessness, illicitness, breach of law, violation of law, infraction of the law, disobedience, unconformity, arbitrariness, antinomy, violence, brute force, despotism, outlawry, mob law, lynch law, club law, Lydford law, martial law, drumhead law, coup d'etat, le droit du plus fort, argumentum baculinum, illegality, informality, unlawfulness, illegitimacy, bar sinister, trover and conversion, smuggling, poaching, simony, outlaw, bad man, v, offend against the law, violate the law, infringe the law, break the law, set the law at defiance, ride roughshod over, drive a coach and six through a statute, ignore the law, make the law a dead letter, take the law into one's own hands, smuggle, run, poach, illegal, unlawful, illegitimate, not allowed, prohibited, illicit, contraband, actionable, unwarranted, unwarrantable, unauthorized, informal, unofficial, injudicial, extrajudicial, lawless, arbitrary, despotic, despotical, corrupt, summary, irresponsible, unanswerable, unaccountable, expired, invalid, unchartered, unconstitutional, null and void, a dead letter, lawless, unregulated, illegally, with a high hand, in violation of law.