Word Direct Answers

What does "poach" mean?

Poach: To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder. Garth.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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.
  2. 3.To stab; to pierce; to spear, \as fish. [Obs.] Carew.
  3. 4.To force, drive, or plunge into anything. [Obs.] His horse poching one of his legs into some hollow ground. Sir W. Temple.
  4. 5.To make soft or muddy by trampling Tennyson.
  5. 6.To begin and not complete. [Obs.] Bacon.
  6. 7.To become soft or muddy. Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and poach in winter. Mortimer.

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