n. (Bot.) A large North American herb of the genus Phytolacca (Phytolacca decandra), bearing dark purple juicy berries; -- called also garget, pigeon berry, pocan, and pokeweed. The root and berries have emetic and purgative properties, and are used in medicine. The young shoots are sometimes eaten as a substitute for asparagus, and the berries are said to be used in Europe to color wine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. poca, poha, pohha; akin to Icel. poki, OD. poke, and perh. to E. pock; cf. also Gael. poca, and OF. poque. Cf. Pock, Pocket, Pouch. ] 1. A bag; a sack; a pocket. “He drew a dial from his poke.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They wallowed as pigs in a poke. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A long, wide sleeve; -- called also poke sleeve. [ 1913 Webster ]

To boy a pig a poke (that is, in a bag), to buy a thing without knowledge or examination of it. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Poked p. pr. & vb. n. Poking. ] [ Cf. LG. poken to prick, pierce, thrust, pok a dagger, knife, D. pook, G. pocken to beat, also Ir. poc a blow, Gael. puc to push. ] 1. To thrust or push against or into with anything pointed; hence, to stir up; to excite; as, to poke a fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

He poked John, and said “Sleepest thou ?” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To thrust with the horns; to gore. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. [ From 5th Poke, 3. ] To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox. [ Colloq. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To poke fun, to excite fun; to joke; to jest. [ Colloq. ] --
To poke fun at, to make a butt of; to ridicule. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To search; to feel one's way, as in the dark; to grope; as, to poke about. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man must have poked into Latin and Greek. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of poking; a thrust; a jog; as, a poke in the ribs. Ld. Lytton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A lazy person; a dawdler; also, a stupid or uninteresting person. [ Slang, U.S. ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A contrivance to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences. It consists of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Poke bonnet, a bonnet with a straight, projecting front. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ So called in allusion to its baglike nest. ] (Zool.) The European long-tailed titmouse; -- called also poke-pudding. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Poke to push. ] 1. One who pokes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which pokes or is used in poking, especially a metal bar or rod used in stirring a fire of coals. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A poking-stick. Decker. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) The poachard. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Poker picture, a picture formed in imitation of bisterwashed drawings, by singeing the surface of wood with a heated poker or other iron. Fairholt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Of uncertain etymol. ] A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about 1835 in the Southwestern United States. Johnson's Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

A poker hand is played with a poker deck, composed of fifty-two cards, of thirteeen values, each card value being represented once in each of four "suits", namely spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The game is played in many variations, but almost invariably the stage of decision as to who wins occurs when each player has five cards (or chooses five cards from some larger number available to him). The winner usually is the player with the highest-valued hand, but, in some variations, the winner may be the player with the lowest-valued hand. The value of a hand is ranked by hand types, representing the relationships of the cards to each other. [ The hand types are ranked by the probability of receiving such a hand when dealt five cards. ] Within each hand type the value is also ranked by the values of the cards. The hand types are labeled, in decreasing value: five of a kind; royal flush; straight flush; four of a kind; full house (coll. full boat, or boat); flush; straight; three of a kind; two pairs; one pair; and, when the contending players have no hands of any of the above types, the player with the highest-valued card wins -- if there is a tie, the next-highest-valued card of the tied players determines the winner, and so on. If two players have the same type of hand, the value of the cards within each type determines the winner; thus, if two players both have three of a kind (and no other player has a higher type of hand), the player whose three matched cards have the highest card value is the winner.

n. [ Cf. Dan. pokker the deuce, devil, also W. pwci, a hobgoblin, bugbear, and E. puck. ] Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to haunt the darkness; a bugbear. [ Colloq. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Infested by pokers; adapted to excite fear; as, a pokerish place. [ Colloq. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

There is something pokerish about a deserted dwelling. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]