Dictionary-Definition.com :: POACH definition

Definition of 'poach'

verb

Hunt illegally; "people are poaching elephants for their ivory"

verb

Cook in a simmering liquid; "poached apricots"

From: GCIDE

Poach \Poach\ (p[=o]ch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Poached (p[=o]cht); 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. [1913 Webster]
2. To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder. --Garth. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Poach \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. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Poach \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. [1913 Webster]
2. To force, drive, or plunge into anything. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
His horse poching one of his legs into some hollow ground. --Sir W. Temple. [1913 Webster]
3. To make soft or muddy by trampling. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
4. To begin and not complete. [Obs.] --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Poach \Poach\, v. i. To become soft or muddy. [1913 Webster]
Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and poach in winter. --Mortimer. [1913 Webster]