| English Dictionary |
POKEY
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does pokey mean?
• POKEY (noun)
The noun POKEY has 1 sense:
1. a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
Familiarity information: POKEY used as a noun is very rare.
• POKEY (adjective)
The adjective POKEY has 2 senses:
1. wasting time
2. small and remote and insignificant
Familiarity information: POKEY used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Synonyms:
clink; gaol; jail; jailhouse; pokey; poky; slammer
Hypernyms ("pokey" is a kind of...):
correctional institution (a penal institution maintained by the government)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pokey"):
bastille (a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner))
holding cell (a jail in a courthouse where accused persons can be confined during a trial)
hoosegow; hoosgow (slang for a jail)
house of correction ((formerly) a jail or other place of detention for persons convicted of minor offences)
lockup (jail in a local police station)
workhouse (a county jail that holds prisoners for periods up to 18 months)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Wasting time
Synonyms:
dilatory; laggard; pokey; poky
Similar:
slow (not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time)
Derivation:
poke (someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Small and remote and insignificant
Synonyms:
jerkwater; one-horse; pokey; poky
Context example:
passed a series of poky little one-horse towns
Similar:
provincial (characteristic of the provinces or their people)
Context examples
“My dear soul,” she said to him one day when I was present, “you know there is no doubt it would be a little pokey for Annie to be always shut up here.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
They are best known for their pokey demeanor rather than the fact that they spend the majority of their lives in trees munching leaves.
(Putting the sloth in sloths: Arboreal lifestyle drives slow pace, NSF)
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