Adjacent Words

Poker definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PO'KER, n. [from poke.] An iron bar used in stirring the fire when coal is used for fuel.
PO'KER, n. [L. bos, bovis.] Any frightful object, especially in the dark; a bugbear; a word in common popular use in America.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: fire iron consisting of a metal rod with a handle; used to stir a fire [syn: poker, stove poker, fire hook, salamander]
2: any of various card games in which players bet that they hold the highest-ranking hand [syn: poker, poker game]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 1534 one that pokes; especially a metal rod for stirring a fire II. noun Etymology: probably modification of French poque, a card game similar to poker Date: 1836 any of several card games in which a player bets that the value of his or her hand is greater than that of the hands held by others, in which each subsequent player must either equal or raise the bet or drop out, and in which the player holding the highest hand at the end of the betting wins the pot

Britannica Concise

Any of several card games in which a player bets that the value of his or her hand is greater than that of the hands held by others. Each subsequent player must either equal or raise the bet or drop out, and the player holding the highest hand at the end of the betting wins the pot. Two principal forms have developed: straight poker, in which all cards of the standard five-card hand are dealt facedown; and stud poker, in which one or two cards are dealt facedown and the rest faceup (five-card) or the last card down (seven-card). In draw poker, cards may be discarded and additional cards drawn. The traditional ranking of hands is (1) straight flush (five cards of the same suit in sequence, the highest sequence--ace-king-queen-jack-ten--being called a royal flush), (2) four of a kind, (3) full house (three of a kind, plus a pair), (4) flush (five of a single suit), (5) straight (five in sequence), (6) three of a kind, (7) two pair, (8) one pair. Similar five-card games were played in Europe from the 16th cent.; the French game Poque was brought to Louisiana by French settlers in the 18th cent. and moved north and west in the early 19th cent.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. a stiff metal rod with a handle for stirring an open fire. Phrases and idioms: poker-work 1 the technique of burning designs on white wood etc. with a heated metal rod. 2 a design made in this way. 2. n. a card-game in which bluff is used as players bet on the value of their hands. Phrases and idioms: poker-dice dice with card designs from ace to nine instead of spots. poker-face 1 the impassive countenance appropriate to a poker-player. 2 a person with this. poker-faced having a poker-face. Etymology: 19th c.: orig. unkn.: cf. G pochen to brag, Pochspiel bragging game

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Poker Pok"er, n. [From Poke to push.] 1. One who pokes. 2. That which pokes or is used in poking, especially a metal bar or rod used in stirring a fire of coals. 3. A poking-stick. --Decker. 4. (Zo["o]l.) The poachard. [Prov. Eng.] Poker picture, a picture formed in imitation of bisterwashed drawings, by singeing the surface of wood with a heated poker or other iron.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Poker Pok"er, n. [Of uncertain etymol.] A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about 1835 in the Southwestern United States. --Johnson's Cyc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Poker Pok"er, n. [Cf. Dan. pokker the deuce, devil, also W. pwci, a hobgoblin, bugbear, and E. puck.] Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to haunt the darkness; a bugbear. [Colloq. U. S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Poachard Poach"ard, n. [From Poach to stab.] [Written also pocard, pochard.] (Zo["o]l.) (a) A common European duck (Aythya ferina); -- called also goldhead, poker, and fresh-water, or red-headed, widgeon. (b) The American redhead, which is closely allied to the European poachard. Red-crested poachard (Zo["o]l.), an Old World duck (Branta rufina). Scaup poachard, the scaup duck. Tufted poachard, a scaup duck (Aythya, or Fuligula cristata), native of Europe and Asia.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pokers) 1. Poker is a card game that people usually play in order to win money. Lon and I play in the same weekly poker game. 2. A poker is a metal bar which you use to move coal or wood in a fire in order to make it burn better. N-COUNT

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A sword. Fore pokers; aces and kings at cards. To burn your poker; to catch the venereal disease.

Moby Thesaurus

andiron, chain, coal tongs, crane, crook, damper, fire hook, fire tongs, firedog, grate, grating, grid, griddle, gridiron, grill, griller, lifter, pothook, salamander, spit, tongs, tripod, trivet, turnspit