pocket

noun

• 1a small bag sewn into or on clothing so as to form part of it, used for carrying small articles: she fished for her door key in her coat pocket
• a pouch-like compartment providing separate storage space, for example in a suitcase or car door: the pack has two main compartments and four pockets
• South African a narrow sack in which agricultural produce is sold, used as a measure for trading: consumers are paying the same for 10 kg pockets of potatoes as they paid for 15 kg pockets last year
• Billiards & Snooker an opening at the corner or on the side of the table into which balls are struck.
• informal a person’s financial resources:the food was all priced to suit the hard-up airman’s pocket

• 2a small patch of something:some of the gardens still had pockets of dirty snow in them
• a small, isolated group or area:there were pockets of disaffection in parts of the country
• a cavity in a rock or stratum filled with ore or other material.

adjective

• of a suitable size for carrying in a pocket:a pocket German dictionary
• on a small scale:a 6,000 acre pocket paradise

verb (pockets, pocketing, pocketed)

• put into one’s pocket:she watched him lock up and pocket the key
• take or receive (money or other valuables) for oneself, especially dishonestly:local politicians were found to have been pocketing the proceeds of fund-raisers
• Billiards & Snooker drive (a ball) into a pocket: he pocketed the 8-ball on the break for a victory in the title game
• enclose as though in a pocket:the fillings can be pocketed in a pitta bread
• suppress (one’s feelings) and proceed despite them:they were prepared to pocket their pride