pokeyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
poke: see pocket
pokeryoudaoicibaDictYouDict
poker: English has two words poker. The earlier, poker for a fire [16], is simply the agent noun formed from poke [14], a verb borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German poken ‘thrust, hit’. The card-game name [19] originated in the USA, but it is not clear where it came from: one suggestion is that it is connected with German pochen ‘brag’.
spokeyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
spoke: [OE] Like its relatives German speiche and Dutch speek, spoke goes back to prehistoric Germanic *spaikōn. This was derived from the base *spaik-, *speik-, which also produced English spike.
=> spike
bespoke (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"custom or custom-made, made to order," of goods, as distinguished from ready-made, 1755, the same sense found earlier in bespoken (c. 1600), past participle of bespeak, in a sense of "to speak for, to arrange beforehand," a sense attested in bespeak from 1580s. Now usually of tailored suits.
fair-spoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-15c.; see fair (adj.) + -spoken.
free-spoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"accustomed to speaking without reserve," 1620s, from free (adj.) + -spoken.
hokey-pokeyyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
1847, "false cheap material," perhaps an alteration of hocus-pocus, or from the nonsense chorus and title of a comic song (Hokey Pokey Whankey Fong) that was popular c. 1830. Applied especially to cheap ice cream sold by street vendors (1884), in Philadelphia, and perhaps other places, it meant shaved ice with artificial flavoring. The words also were the title of a Weber-Fields musical revue from 1912. The modern dance song of that name hit the U.S. in 1950 ("Life" described it Nov. 27, 1950, as "a tuneless stomp that is now sweeping the U.C.L.A. campus"), but it is said to have originated in Britain in World War II, perhaps from a Canadian source.
kapok (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1735, from Malay kapoq, name of the large tropical tree which produces the fibers.
outspoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"given to speaking freely," 1808, originally Scottish, from out (adv.) + -spoken. "The pa. pple. has here a resultant force, as in 'well spoken', 'well read'." [OED]. Related: Outspokenly; outspokenness.
plain-spoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1670s, from plain (adj.) + -spoken.
poke (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"to push, prod, thrust," especially with something pointed, c. 1300, puken "to poke, nudge," of uncertain origin, perhaps from or related to Middle Dutch poken "to poke" (Dutch beuken), or Middle Low German poken "to stick with a knife" (compare German pochen "to knock, rap"), both from Proto-Germanic root *puk-, perhaps imitative. Related: Poked; poking. To poke fun "tease" first attested 1840; to poke around "search" is from 1809. To poke along "advance lazily; walk at a leisurely pace" is from 1833.
poke (n.1)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"small sack," early 13c., probably from Old North French poque (12c., Old French poche) "purse, poke, purse-net," probably from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *puk- (cognates: Old English pohha, pocca "bag, pocket," Middle Dutch poke, Old Norse poki "bag, pouch, pocket," dialectal German Pfoch), from PIE root *beu-, an imitative root associated with words for "to swell" (see bull (n.2)).
poke (n.2)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"pokeweed; a weed used in medicine and dyeing," colonial American, from native words, possibly a confusion of similar-sounding Native American plant names; from 1630s in English as "tobacco plant," short for uppowoc (1580s), from Algonquian (Virginia) *uppowoc. Later (1708) the word is used in the sense "pokeweed," as a shortened form of puccoon, from Algonquian (Virginia) *puccoon, name of a plant used for dyeing." Native roots for "smoke" and "stain" have been proposed as the origin or origins.
poke (n.3)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"an act of poking," 1796, originally pugilistic slang, from poke (v.). Also (1809) the name of a device, like a yoke with a pole, attached to domestic animals such as pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping enclosures. Hence slowpoke, and compare pokey. Slang sense "act of sexual intercourse" is attested from 1902.
Pokemon (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
video and trading card franchise, released in Japan in 1996, said to be from a contracted Romanization of Japanese Poketto Monsuta "pocket monsters," both elements ultimately from European languages. Apparently it is a collective word with no distinctive plural form.
poker (n.1)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"the iron bar with which men stir the fire" [Johnson], 1530s, agent noun from poke (v.).
poker (n.2)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
card game, 1834, American English, of unknown origin, perhaps from the first element of German Pochspiel, name of a card game similar to poker, from pochen "to brag as a bluff," literally "to knock, rap" (see poke (v.)). A popular alternative theory traces the word to French poque, also said to have been a card game resembling poker. "[B]ut without documentation these explanations are mere speculation" [Barnhart]. The earlier version of the game in English was called brag. Slang poker face (n.) "deadpan" is from 1874.
A good player is cautious or bold by turns, according to his estimate of the capacities of his adversaries, and to the impression he wants to make on them. 7. It follows that the possession of a good poker face is an advantage. No one who has any pretensions to good play will betray the value of his hand by gesture, change of countenance, or any other symptom. ["Cavendish," "Round Games at Cards," dated 1875]



To any one not very well up in these games, some parts of the book are at first sight rather puzzling. "It follows," we read in one passage, "that the possession of a good poker face" (the italics are the author's) "is an advantage." If this had been said by a Liverpool rough of his wife, the meaning would have been clear to every one. Cavendish, however, does not seem to be writing especially for Lancashire. [review of above, "Saturday Review," Dec. 26, 1874]
pokey (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"jail," 1919, of uncertain origin; Barnhart says perhaps altered from pogie "poorhouse" (1891), which itself is of unknown origin.
poky (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also pokey, 1828, "confined, pinched, shabby," later (1856) "slow, dull;" from varied senses of poke (v.) + -y (2). Also see poke (n.3). Related: Pokily; pokiness.
-spokenyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
in compounds, "speaking" (in a certain way), late-15c., from past participle of speak (v.).
slowpoke (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also slow poke, 1848, American English from slow (adj.) + poke (n.3), the name of a device, like a yoke with a pole, attached to domestic animals such as pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping enclosures. Bartlett (1859) calls it "a woman's word."
soft-spoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1600, from soft (adj.) + -spoken.
spoke (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"radius of a wheel," Old English spaca "spoke of a wheel, radius," related to spicing "large nail," from Proto-Germanic *spaikon (cognates: Old Saxon speca, Old Frisian spake, Dutch spaak, Old High German speicha, German speiche "spoke"), of uncertain origin, probably from PIE *spei- "sharp point" (see spike (n.1)).
spoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"uttered, oral" (as opposed to written), 1837, past participle adjective from speak (v.).
spokesman (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1510s, "an interpreter," 1530s in the sense of "person who speaks for another or others." Irregular formation from spoke, past tense of speak (actually a back-formation from spoken) + man (n.). Perhaps on analogy of craftsman. Spokeswoman is from 1650s; spokesperson is from 1972; spokesmodel is attested from 1990.
unspoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c., from un- (1) "not" + past participle of speak (v.). Similar formation in Middle Dutch ongesproken, Middle Low German ungesproken.
well-spoken (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-15c., from well (adv.) + -spoken.
jiggery-pokeryyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
"Deceitful or dishonest behaviour", Late 19th century: probably a variant of Scots joukery-pawkery, from jouk. More This late 19th-century expression means ‘deceitful or dishonest behaviour’. It is probably a variant of Scots joukery-pawkery, from jouk ‘to skulk’.
spokeswomanyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
"A woman who makes statements on behalf of a group or individual", Mid 17th century: from spoke2 + woman, after spokesman.