Pocket \Pock"et\, n. Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use; specif.: (a) A bin for strong coal, grain, etc. (b) A socket for receiving the foot of a post, stake, etc. (c) A bright on a lee shore. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Pocket \Pock"et\ (p[o^]k"[e^]t), n. [OE. poket, Prov. F. & OF. poquette, F. pochette, dim. fr. poque, pouque, F. poche; probably of Teutonic origin. See {Poke} a pocket, and cf. {Poach} to cook eggs, to plunder, and {Pouch}.] 1. A bag or pouch; especially; a small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles, particularly money; hence, figuratively, money; wealth.
2. One of several bags attached to a billiard table, into which the balls are driven.
3. A large bag or sack used in packing various articles, as ginger, hops, cowries, etc.
Note: In the wool or hop trade, the pocket contains half a sack, or about 168 Ibs.; but it is a variable quantity, the articles being sold by actual weight.
4. (Arch.) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
5. (Mining.) (a) A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity. (b) A hole containing water.
6. (Nat.) A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
7. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Pouch}.
8. Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use; specif.: (a) A bin for storing coal, grain, etc. (b) A socket for receiving the foot of a post, stake, etc. (c) A bight on a lee shore. (d) a small cavity in the body, especially one abnormally filled with a fluid; as, a pocket of pus. (e) (Dentistry) a small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the gum from the tooth. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
9. An isolated group or area which has properties in contrast to the surrounding area; as, a pocket of poverty in an affluent region; pockets of resistance in a conquered territory; a pocket of unemployment in a booming ecomony. [PJC]
10. (Football) The area from which a quarterback throws a pass, behind the line of scrimmage, delineated by the defensive players of his own team who protect him from attacking opponents; as, he had ample time in the pocket to choose an open receiver. [PJC]
11. (Baseball) The part of a baseball glove covering the palm of the wearer's hand. [PJC]
12. (Bowling) the space between the head pin and one of the pins in the second row, considered as the optimal point at which to aim the bowling ball in order to get a strike. [PJC]
Note: Pocket is often used adjectively in the sense of small, or in the formation of compound words usually of obvious signification; as, pocket knife, pocket comb, pocket compass, pocket edition, pocket handkerchief, pocket money, pocket picking, or pocket-picking, etc.
{deep pocket} or
{deep pockets}, wealth or substantial financial assets.
Note: Used esp. in legal actions, where plaintiffs desire to find a defendant with "deep pockets", so as to be able to actually obtain the sum of damages which may be judged due to him. This contrasts with a "judgment-proof" defendant, one who has neither assets nor insurance, and against whom a judgment for monetary damages would be uncollectable and worthless.
{Out of pocket}. See under {Out}, prep.
{Pocket borough}, a borough ``owned'' by some person. See under {Borough}. [Eng.]
{Pocket gopher} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of American rodents of the genera {Geomys}, and {Thomomys}, family {Geomyd[ae]}. They have large external cheek pouches, and are fossorial in their habits. they inhabit North America, from the Mississippi Valley west to the Pacific. Called also {pouched gopher}.
{Pocket mouse} (Zo["o]l.), any species of American mice of the family {Saccomyid[ae]}. They have external cheek pouches. Some of them are adapted for leaping (genus {Dipadomys}), and are called {kangaroo mice}. They are native of the Southwestern United States, Mexico, etc.
{Pocket piece}, a piece of money kept in the pocket and not spent.
{Pocket pistol}, a pistol to be carried in the pocket.
{Pocket sheriff} (Eng. Law), a sheriff appointed by the sole authority of the crown, without a nomination by the judges in the exchequer. --Burrill.
Pocket \Pock"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pocketed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pocketing}.] 1. To put, or conceal, in the pocket; as, to pocket the change.
He would pocket the expense of the license. --Sterne.
2. To take clandestinely or fraudulently.
He pocketed pay in the names of men who had long been dead. --Macaulay.
{To pocket a ball} (Billiards), to drive a ball into a pocket of the table.
{To pocket an insult}, {affront}, etc., to receive an affront without open resentment, or without seeking redress. ``I must pocket up these wrongs.'' --Shak.
The pocket computer, wired to the earpiece, makes it bulkier than other recent hearing aids.
The company is in the Guiness Book of Records for the world's most complicated pocket watch without precious metals.
The K-V fund is not a deep pocket.
Wrap your wallet in rubber bands _ that makes it much harder to slip out of the pocket, suggests the American Express Company.
A growing number of companies, including the Baby Bells, plan to erect networks to provide similar service to customers using tiny pocket phones.
DiSilvio, who was not charged in the shooting, told police that Hanley never identified himself as an officer, and Borrelli said Hanley's police ID was still in his pocket.
He admitted receiving at least $40,000 in gratuities and said contractors often would stick cash in his pocket as he completed inspections at their plants.
Most men carry a wallet in their back pocket.
Once crack cocaine was obtained from an undercover agent posing as a friend of Moore's, Barry "took a portion of the crack and placed it inside his jacket pocket which was hanging on a door knob nearby," said the papers.
I searched my pocket and found a 500 won coin (worth 74 cents).
Prosecutor Chris Piazza says Clark entertained supporters on the taxpayers' tab to generate campaign contributions that ended up in his pocket.
A television sound technician said his jacket pocket was ripped off by the KGB, and a photographer said he was punched in the back.
Morales was not the only one armed that night, police said. Emiliano Fernandez, 18, allegedly used a box cutter to slice the pants pocket of Watkins' father and steal his wallet, which contained $200.
"A dollar in state taxes used to cost you 54 cents out of pocket," says Joseph J. Nugent, Coopers & Lybrand's regional director of state and local taxes in Philadelphia.
Cotton has been hospitalized for an "air pocket," said Kennerly, who further characterized the condition as a buildup of gas in a body cavity.
Another sign along the highway exhorted: 'Christians, vote God's heart, not your pocket book.' Back in the Paris of Arkansas, outside the centre set up for the media, crowds of tourists listened to blaring jazz and rock music.
And having a good idea how much you can pocket makes tricky deals much easier to understand.
A separate map and smaller pocket guide covers the Metro rapid transit system. Different geometric shapes let vision-impaired visitors know not only the subway stops but what side of the platform the train comes in on.
Someone has drawn several links of a chain hanging from his pocket.
The gimmick, known as a "pocket charter," was designed to allay fears by thrift acquirers that the FSLIC or a successor agency might default on its notes.
A congressman who sponsored a bill aimed at lowering the cost of some drugs says he was shocked at President Bush's pocket veto of the measure without any previous warnings that he opposed it.
'The Fed has provided a seismic shock to markets and you have to be concerned that world markets are about to hit an air pocket; it could be very nasty short-term,' he said.
Aides said he often carried a notebook in his pocket in which to scribble employee concerns.
But it has chosen to do so in a very low-key way, hoping not to repeat the mistake of 1984, when its support enabled the Reagan forces to charge Walter Mondale with being in AFL-CIO leader Lane Kirkland's pocket.
Mary Alday's wristwatch was in Dungee's pocket.
Neither FSLIC nor the Simon group mentioned the pocket charter in their public statements about the transaction.
Riegle raised $4 million for his campaign, while Dunn was forced to spend about $260,000 from his own pocket.
Several thousand La Crosse residents who held Heileman stock stand to pocket an estimated $120 million from last month's sale of the company to Bond Corp., the Australian brewer.
Whenever I hear the words "rights" and "refunding" in the same sentence, I check to see if my wallet is still in my pocket.
Blood taken from Shriner's jacket matched the boy's blood type, and 15 hairs found on a yellow braided cord recovered from the pocket of Shriner's jacket also match, Roche said.