1illegally hunt or catch (game or fish) on land that is not one’s own or in contravention of official protection:20 tigers are thought to have been poached from national parks (as noun poaching)he might arrest you for poaching
take or acquire in an unfair or clandestine way:employers risk having their newly trained workers poached by other firms
[no object] (in ball games) take a shot that a partner or teammate would have expected to take:in doubles, you’re poaching when you advance into your partner’s territory
2(of an animal) trample or cut up (turf) with its hoofs: (as noun poaching)zero-grazing saves the fields from poaching
[no object] (of land) become sodden by being trampled:if the ground is liable to poach the cows come inside
Phrases
poach on someone's territory
encroach on someone else’s rights:she smiled to reassure the girl that she was not poaching on her territory with her boyfriend
Origin:
early 16th century (in the sense 'push roughly together'): apparently related to poke1; sense 1 is perhaps partly from French pocher 'enclose in a bag' (see poach1)
