n. a small bag sewn into your clothes for carrying things like keys or money. You can also use it to describe a small area that is different from the space around it.
n. a small, pouch-like compartment sewn into or onto a garment for carrying small items. Also used metaphorically to describe a small, isolated area or group that differs from its surroundings.
I keep my phone in my front pocket.
The hiker reached into his jacket pocket to find a compass before the sun went down.
While the rest of the city has modernized rapidly, this small pocket of historic buildings remains untouched, preserving the architectural style of the nineteenth century.
From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish pokō (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic pukkô, pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European bew- (“to blow, swell”). Equivalent to poke + -et. Doublet of pochette. Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke (“sack or bag”). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.
Commonly used in the phrase 'in one's pocket' to describe control over someone, or 'out of pocket' to describe personal spending.
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burn a hole in someone's pocket
To cause someone to spend money or be tempted to spend money.
- 02
in someone's pocket
Receiving money from, and under the influence of, a person or group of people, with the expectation that a favor or advantage will be proffered in return.
- 03
Lucy Lockett
[Cockney slang]pocket