pocket

Etymology

From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokā (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *pukkô, *pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke ("sack or bag"). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.

noun

1. A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
   “Do I fidget you ?” he asked apologetically, whilst his long bony fingers buried themselves, string, knots, and all, into the capacious pockets of his magnificent tweed ulster. 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Case of Miss Elliott
2. (by extension) A person's financial resources.
   I paid for it out of my own pocket.
   There was, for much of the period, no cheap public transport; and even the Underground, or one of Shillibeer's horse-drawn omnibuses, was beyond the pocket of many of the poor. 2012, Simon Heffer, “In Fagin's Footsteps”, in Literary Review, section 403
   "The financial impact of the fuel duty cut on people's pockets will in fact be minimal, […]" April 6 2022, “Network News: Spring Statement: Sunak accused of making rail less competitive”, in RAIL, number 954, page 8
3. (sports, billiards, pool, snooker">snooker) An indention and cavity with a net sack or similar structure (into which the balls are to be struck) at each corner and one centered on each side of a pool or snooker">snooker table.
4. An enclosed volume of one substance surrounded by another.
   She knew from avalanche safety courses that outstretched hands might puncture the ice surface and alert rescuers. She knew that if victims ended up buried under the snow, cupped hands in front of the face could provide a small pocket of air for the mouth and nose. Without it, the first breaths could create a suffocating ice mask. 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Time
   The drilling expedition discovered a pocket of natural gas.
5. (Australia) An area of land surrounded by a loop of a river.
6. (Australian rules football) The area of the field to the side of the goal posts (four pockets in total on the field, one to each side of the goals at each end of the ground). The pocket is only a roughly defined area, extending from the behind post, at an angle, to perhaps about 30 meters out.
7. (American football) The area behind the line of scrimmage subject to certain rules regarding intentional grounding, illegal contact, etc., formally extending to the end zone but more usually understood as the central area around the quarterback directly protected by the offensive line.
   For many years, the popular belief among NFL analysts was that the success of an NFL team comes with a quarterback who can stand tall in the pocket and deliver the ball downfield. Members of the elite group of active quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees, for instance, also earned their reputation by making plays almost exclusively from the pocket. 2014 June 20, Gregor Bozic, "Ramblings: Classic Pocket Passers versus Mobile Quarterbacks", Football Outsiders
   With some notable exceptions, NFL teams that are successful on dropbacks outside the pocket have tended to win more games 2019 Dec. 6, Josh Hermsmeyer, "Teams Are Excelling when Their QBs Leave the Pocket. Can that Continue?", FiveThirtyEight
   The Pocket Area is the area between the outside edges of the normal tackle positions on each side of the center extending backward to the offensive team's end line. After the ball leaves the pocket area, this area no longer exists. 2021, Official Playing Rules of the National Football League, §26: Pocket Area
8. (military) An area where military units are completely surrounded by enemy units.
9. (rugby) The position held by a second defensive middle, where an advanced middle must retreat after making a touch on the attacking middle.
   Matt Stevens was crumpled by Euan Murray in another scrum, allowing Parks to kick for the corner, and when Richie Gray's clean take from the subsequent line-out set up a series of drives under the posts, Parks was back in the pocket to belt over a drop-goal to make it 9-3 at the interval. October 1, 2011, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport
10. (surfing) The unbroken part of a wave that offers the surfer the most power.
11. A large bag or sack formerly used for packing various articles, such as ginger, hops, or cowries; the pocket of wool held about 168 pounds.
12. (architecture) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, etc.
13. (mining) A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
14. (nautical) A strip of canvas sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
15. The pouch of an animal.
16. (bowling) The ideal point where the pins are hit by the bowling ball.
17. A socket for receiving the base of a post, stake, etc.
18. A bight on a lee shore.
19. (dentistry) A small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the two.
20. A small, isolated group or area.
    They are comfortable trains with decent windows, ideal for observing a line which is one of the last pockets of manually operated crossing gates and semaphore signalling - …. November 4 2020, Paul Bigland, “At no point have I felt unsafe...”, in Rail, page 47

verb

1. (transitive) To put (something) into a pocket.
2. (billiards, snooker, pool) To cause a ball to go into one of the pockets of the table; to complete a shot.
3. (transitive, informal) To take and keep (something, especially money, that is not one's own).
   Record executives pocketed most of the young singer's earnings.
   The thief was caught on camera pocketing the diamond.
4. (transitive, informal, dated) To put up with; to bear without complaint.
   As long as the house suffered the practice to prevail, they must submit to pocket the insult of being told that it existed. 1810, Great Britain. Parliament, The Parliamentary Register, page 557

adj

1. Of a size suitable for putting into a pocket.
   a pocket dictionary
2. Smaller or more compact than usual.
   pocket battleship, pocket beach
   She ate, drank, worked, danced, and made love in exactly the same way: con brio. She came into the apartment like a pocket hurricane. 1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger
3. (Texas hold'em poker) Referring to the two initial hole cards.
   a pocket pair of kings