Dictionary

poke out en · VERB

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To be partly visible past an obstruction or obstructions.
   • A big round grey rock, like the upper half of an egg, poked out of the water about a mile from the stony headland. 1963, Sylvia Plath, chapter 13, in The Bell Jar, London: Faber & Faber, published 1971:
   • “Fred’s great, perfectly great,” she said, looking down at the toe of her slipper, poking out from her pink tulle skirt. 1916, Margaret Deland, chapter 5, in The Rising Tide, New York: Harper & Bros., page 69:
   • 1886, Wilkie Collins, The Evil Genius, London: Chatto & Windus, Volume 1, Before the Story, Part 4, p. 41, Here’s the Queen, my dears, in her gilt coach, drawn by six horses. Do you see her sceptre poking out of the carriage window? She governs the nation with that.
2. (intransitive) To emerge from behind, in, or under something.
   • One by one five mouths poked out of the shells, demanding to be fed […] 1904, Laurence Housman, “The Moon-Stroke”, in The Blue Moon, London: John Murray, page 95:
   • As dawn came I watched things slowly poke out of the black. Each thing was a surprise. 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 9, in Klee Wyck, Toronto: Oxford University Press:
   • Near-synonym: pop out
   • As they gazed, a white face, wet with the sweat of fear, poked out and stared down upon them with eyes in which the late terror still lived. 1893, John Arthur Barry, “A Cape Horn Christmas”, in Steve Brown’s Bunyip and Other Stories, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1905, page 277:
3. (transitive) To cause (something) to protrude or emerge.
   • Ye see then we are but as snayles, and are chaunged incontinent. And is it meet that we shoulde poke out our hornes agaynst God? 1574, Arthur Golding, transl., Sermons of Master John Calvin upon the Booke of Job, London: Lucas Harison and George Byshop, Sermon 134, on Chapter 34, p. 692:
   • I felt so light and free and happy—so childish! I wanted to poke my tongue out at the circle on the grass, who, drawing close together, were whispering meaningly. 1911, Katherine Mansfield, “The Luft Bad”, in In a German Pension, London: Stephen Swift & Co, page 132:
   • Near-synonym: stick out
   • The Badger and I have been round and round the place, by night and by day; always the same thing. Sentries posted everywhere, guns poked out at us, stones thrown at us; always an animal on the look-out […] 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, chapter 11, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 263-264:
   • In came the fellow, bowing and scraping, his hat poked out before him with both his hands. 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XX”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume V, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 178:
4. (transitive) To remove (something) by poking (often creating a hole in the process).
   • 1842, Robert Browning, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” in Lyrics of Life, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1866, p. 35, lines 148-149, “Go,” cried the Mayor, “and get long poles! Poke out the nests and block up the holes!
   • […] he would bustle round in his slovenly fashion, poking out the ashes, rubbing the fireplace, sweeping the house before he went to work. 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Part 1, Chapter 2”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, pages 28-29:
   • 1665, John Phillips (translator), Typhon, or, The Gyants War with the Gods by Paul Scarron (1644), London: Samuel Speed, Canto 5, p. 147, Apollo then does shoot so right With shaft that’s sharp as well as bright, Hits Ephialtes in the eye; And Hercules that then stood by, Pokes out his other: farewel he.
   • Near-synonyms: push out, pop out

Forms

Coordinates

get out · get out · dig out

Synonyms

pop out · protrude · stick out · push out · stick out · pop out