poach

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊtʃ/
• Rhymes: -əʊtʃ

poach (third-person singular simple present poaches, present participle poaching, simple past and past participle poached)

1. (transitive) To cook something in simmering liquid.
   • 1931, Francis Beeding, “1/1”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps‎:

     Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car. Mulligatawny soup, poached turbot, roast leg of lamb—the usual railway dinner.

2. (intransitive) To be cooked in simmering liquid
   • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon?)

     The white of an egg with spirit of wine, doth bake the egg into clots, as if it began to poach.

3. To become soft or muddy.
   • (Can we date this quote by Mortimer?)

     Chalky and clay lands […] chap in summer, and poach in winter.

4. To make soft or muddy.

   Cattle coming to drink had punched and poached the river bank into a mess of mud.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Tennyson to this entry?)

5. (obsolete) To stab; to pierce; to spear, as fish.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Carew to this entry?)

6. (obsolete) To force, drive, or plunge into anything.
   • (Can we date this quote by Sir W. Temple?)

     his horse poaching one of his legs into some hollow ground

7. (obsolete) To begin and not complete.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

• poached egg

poach (plural poaches)

1. The act of cooking in simmering liquid.
   • 2005, Jill Dupleix, Good Cooking: The New Basics (page 152)

     Peaches are so perfect they need very little to make them extra special—just a quick poach in basil-scented rosé wine and a few adoring strawberries.

From Middle French pocher (“poke”), from Old French pochier (“poke out”).

poach (third-person singular simple present poaches, present participle poaching, simple past and past participle poached)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To take game or fish illegally.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To take anything illegally or unfairly.
   • 2019 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Chelsea's embarrassment was symbolised by Ross Barkley's inexplicable header straight to the feet of Aguero to poach his second and Ilkay Gundogan capped that early blitz with a low drive.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To entice (an employee or customer) to switch from a competing company to one's own.

• poachable
• poacher
• unpoached

poach (plural poaches)

1. The act of taking something unfairly, as in tennis doubles where one player returns a shot that their partner was better placed to return.

• Poach in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• copha, phaco, phaco-, phoca