poach

Meanings

Verb

• To cook something in simmering liquid.
• To be cooked in simmering liquid
• To trespass on another's property to take fish or game.
• To take game or fish illegally.
• To take anything illegally or unfairly.
• To entice (an employee or customer) to switch from a competing company to one's own.
• To make soft or muddy by trampling.
• To become soft or muddy by being trampled on.
• To stab; to pierce; to spear or drive or plunge into something.

Noun

• The act of cooking in simmering liquid.
• The act of taking something unfairly, as in tennis doubles where one player returns a shot that their partner was better placed to return.

Origin

• From Middle English pochen ("to poach (eggs)"), from Old French pocher "to put (egg yolks) in pockets" (i.e. in bags formed by the whites), from Old French poche ("pocket").
• From Old French pocher, pochier. poke.