pocket

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pocket/ˈpɒkɪt/

▶noun

• 1 a small bag sewn into or on clothing so as to form part of it, used for carrying small articles.

  ■ a pouch-like compartment providing separate storage space.

  ■ (one's pocket) informal one's financial resources.

• 2 a small, isolated patch, group, or area.

• 3 Billiards & Snooker an opening at the corner or on the side of a billiard table into which balls are struck.

• 4 American Football a protected area behind the line of scrimmage, from which the quarterback throws a pass.

• 5 Baseball a hollow in a baseball mitt in which the ball is caught and held.

▶adjective of a suitable size for carrying in a pocket: a pocket dictionary. ▶verb (pockets, pocketing, pocketed)

• 1 put into one's pocket.

• 2 take for oneself, especially dishonestly.

• 3 Billiards & Snooker drive (a ball) into a pocket.

– phrases
in someone's pocket

• 1 dependent on someone financially and therefore under their influence.

• 2 closely involved with someone.

out of (or in) pocket having lost (or gained) money in a transaction.
put one's hand in one's pocket spend or provide one's own money.

– derivatives
pocketable adjective,
pocketful noun (pl. pocketfuls),
pocketless adjective.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘bag, sack’, also used as a measure of quantity): from Anglo-Norman Fr. poket(e), dimin. of poke ‘pouch’.