poach2

 
Pronunciation: /pəʊtʃ/

verb

[with object]
  • 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)