poke – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to poke around
Participle: poked around
Gerund: poking around

Cognates

See the 2 cognates of poke

Indicative

Subjunctive

Conditional

Imperative

you	poke around
we	Let's poke around
you	poke around

Indicative

Conditional

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

rummage

feel around

penetrate in sexual intercourse

copulate with

to administer a physical blow

bang, baste, batter, beat, belabor, blow, boom-boom, buffet, butt, dab, dash, dowse, fetch one a blow, flap, give toco, hammer, hit, kick, knock, lunge, pat, patter, pelt, pink, pound, pummel, punch, rap, slam, slap, strike, swap, tap, thrash, thump, thwack, whack, whip, yerk

jab

punch, push, butt, dig, nudge, thrust, stir, impel

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. c.1380, perhaps from M.Du. poken "to poke," or M.L.G. poken "to stick with a knife," both from P.Gmc. base *puk-, perhaps imitative. To poke fun "tease" first attested 1840; to poke around "search" is from 1809. The noun meaning "an act of poking" is attested from 1796, originally pugilistic slang.
2. From Middle English poken, perhaps from Middle Dutch poken or Middle Low German poken, both from Proto-West Germanic *pukōn or similar, which is itself of uncertain origin, but may be from an imitative Proto-Germanic root *puk-. Doublet of poach.
3. Compare Nordic cognates Swedish påka (“to poke, muck with a stick”), påk (“club, limb; dagger”), pykel (“small poker”), dialectal Norwegian pauka (“to walk stomping, etc”), pauk (“weak, slow person”). Central European noun-cognates refer to “dagger, bad knife, poker (for a fireplace)”, with analog verbs. To a Proto-Germanic *pauk-, *puk-, meanig, “to stick, muck with a stick”. See: Middle English 'poken', Swedish 'påka'.

Verbs referencing "poke"

Old French pochier.

Sample Sentences