Poach (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Poached (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Poaching.] [F. pocher to place in a pocket, to poach
eggs (the yolk of the egg being as it were pouched in the
white), from poche pocket, pouch. See Pouch, v.
& n.] 1. To cook, as eggs, by breaking
them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a
vessel. Bacon.
2. To rob of game; to pocket and convey away
by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder. Garth.
Poach, v. i. To steal or pocket
game, or to carry it away privately, as in a bag; to kill or destroy
game contrary to law, especially by night; to hunt or fish unlawfully;
as, to poach for rabbits or for salmon.
Poach, v. t. [Cf. OF. pocher to
thrust or dig out with the fingers, to bruise (the eyes), F.
pouce thumb, L. pollex, and also E. poach to cook
eggs, to plunder, and poke to thrust against.]
1. To stab; to pierce; to spear, \as fish.
[Obs.] Carew.
2. To force, drive, or plunge into
anything. [Obs.]
His horse poching one of his legs into some
hollow ground.
Sir W. Temple.
3. To make soft or muddy by trampling
Tennyson.
4. To begin and not complete. [Obs.]
Bacon.
Poach, v. i. To become soft or
muddy.
Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and
poach in winter.
Mortimer.
