Kick vs Poke - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between kick and poke

is that kick is kick while poke is (us|slang) a lazy person; a dawdler or poke can be or poke can be (dialectal) pokeweed.

As a verb poke is

to prod or jab with a pointed object such as a finger or a stick.

kick

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . See (l).

Verb

(en verb)

To strike or hit with the foot or other extremity of the leg.

Did you kick your brother?

* 1877 , , Chapter 1: My Early Home,

Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.

* 1895 , , Chapter XII: Friends and Foes,

I was cuffed by the women and kicked by the men because I would not swallow it.

* 1905 , , Chapter 6,

A punt is made by letting the ball drop from the hands and kicking it just before it touches the ground.

* 1919 , , The Teacher: concerning Kate Swift,

Will Henderson, who had on a light overcoat and no overshoes, kicked the heel of his left foot with the toe of the right.

To make a sharp jerking movement of the leg, as to strike something.

He enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching the kickline kick .

* 1904 , , Chapter II: Rope Jumping, and What Followed,

"If you did that, I'd kick'," answered Freddie, and began to ' kick real hard into the air.

To direct to a particular place by a blow with the foot or leg.

Kick the ball into the goal.

* 1905 , , Chapter 7,

Sometimes he can kick' the ball forward along the ground until it is ' kicked in goal, where he can fall on it for a touchdown.

To eject summarily.

* 1936 October,

"He's been mad at me ever since I fired him off'n my payroll. After I kicked him off'n my ranch he run for sheriff, and the night of the election everybody was so drunk they voted for him by mistake, or for a joke, or somethin', and since he's been in office he's been lettin' the sheepmen steal me right out of house and home."

* 1976 February 3, ,

They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.

(Internet) To remove a participant from an online activity.

He was kicked by ChanServ for flooding.

(slang) To overcome (a bothersome or difficult issue or obstacle); to free onself of (a problem).

By taking that medication, he managed to get his triggered phobia of heights kicked .

I still smoke, but they keep telling me to kick the habit.

To move or push suddenly and violently.

He was kicked sideways by the force of the blast.

* 2011 , Tom Andry, Bob Moore: No Hero ,

The back of the car kicked out violently, forcing me to steer into the slide and accelerate in order to maintain control.

(of a firearm) To recoil; to push by recoiling.

* 2003 , Jennifer C. D. Groomes, The Falcon Project , page 174,

Lying on the ground, when fired, it kicked me back a foot. There was no way a person my size was going to be able to do an effective job with this gun.

* 2006 , Daniel D. Scherschel, Maple Grove , page 81,

I asked my sister Jeanette if she wanted to shoot the 12 ga. shotgun. She replied, "does it kick "?

Descendants

* German: (l)

Noun

(en noun)

A hit or strike with the leg or foot or knee.

A kick to the knee.

* 1890 , , Chapter VII: A Raid on the Stable-Beer Dives,

A kick of his boot-heel sent the door flying into the room.

* 2011 , Phil McNulty, Euro 2012: Montenegro 2-2 England [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15195384.stm]

Elsad Zverotic gave Montenegro hope with a goal with the last kick of the first half - and when Rooney was deservedly shown red by referee Wolfgang Stark, England were placed under pressure they could not survive.

The action of swinging a foot or leg.

The ballerina did a high kick and a leap.

(colloquial) Something that tickles the fancy; something fun or amusing.

I finally saw the show. What a kick !

I think I sprained something on my latest exercise kick .

(Internet) The removal of a person from an online activity.

A button (of a joypad, joystick or similar device) whose only or main current function is that when it is pressed causes a video game character to kick.

(figuratively) Any bucking motion of an object that lacks legs or feet.

The car had a nasty kick the whole way.

The pool ball took a wild kick , up off the table.

(uncountable, and, countable) piquancy

* 2002 , Ellen and Michael Albertson, Temptations , , ISBN 0743229800, page 124 [http://books.google.com/books?id=cITFVpz2ri8C&pg=PA124&dq=kick]:

Add a little cascabel pepper to ordinary tomato sauce to give it a kick .

* 2003 , Sheree Bykofsky and Megan Buckley, Sexy City Cocktails , , ISBN 1580629172, page 129 [http://books.google.com/books?id=GBO9qF3uXYUC&pg=PA129&dq=kick]:

For extra kick , hollow out a lime, float it on top of the drink, and fill it with tequila.

* 2007 August 27, , volume 83, Issues 22-28

The first time I saw "Deep Water," the trace of mystery in the Crowhurst affair gave the movie a kick of excitement.

A stimulation provided by an intoxicating substance.

(soccer) A pass played by kicking with the foot.

(soccer) The distance traveled by kicking the ball.

a long kick up the field.

a recoil of a gun.

(informal) pocket

An increase in speed in the final part of a running race.

(chess) To attack (a piece) in order to force it to move.

Quotations

* (English Citations of "kick")

Descendants

* German: (l)

Derived terms

* drop kick * for kicks * free kick * get a kick out of * on a kick * kick about * kick against the pricks * kick around * kick ass, kick butt * kick at the can * kick back * kickban (Internet) * kickboxing * kick the bucket * kickflip * kick in * kick in the pants * kick in the teeth * kick it * kick like a mule * kick off (pos v) * kick-off (pos n) * kick one's heels * kick out * kick over * kick over the traces * kick someone when they are down * kickstand * kick start * kick the can, kick-the-can * kick the can down the road * kick the habit * kick up * kick up the arse/kick up the ass/kick up the backside/kick up the butt * kick up one's heels * kick upstairs * kick wheel

Etymology 2

Shortening of (kick the bucket)

Verb

(en verb)

To die.

* '>citation

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poke

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps from (etyl) poken or (etyl) poken (both from (etyl) ), perhaps imitative.

Verb

(pok)

To prod or jab with a pointed object such as a finger or a stick.

* {{quote-news

, year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Sam Sheringham , title=Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Ward showed good pace to beat the advancing Reina to the ball and poke a low finish into the corner.}}

To poke a fire to remove ash or promote burning.

(figuratively) To rummage as in to poke about in.

(computing) To modify the value stored in (a memory address).

* 1984 , Franco Frey, SPECGRAFFITI'' (in ''Crash magazine, issue 6, July 1984)

The 200 UDGs may be used either by paging between 10 sets of 20 UDGs or, alternatively, by displaying 96 different characters by poking the system variable CHARS with 256 less than the starting address of your graphics.

* 1985 , Tom Weishaar, Bert Kersey, The DOStalk Scrapbook (page 44)

If you try to poke a value outside this range into a byte, Basic will beep you with an ILLEGAL QUANTITY error.

To put a poke on.

to poke an ox

To thrust with the horns; to gore.

(informal, internet) To notify.

(label) To thrust (something) in a particular direction such as the tongue.

Derived terms

{{der3, poke along , poke bonnet , poke box , poke fun , toepoke}}

Noun

(en noun)

(US, slang) A lazy person; a dawdler.

(US, slang) A stupid or uninteresting person.

(Bartlett)

(US) A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.

(computing) The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game.

* 1988 , "Lloyd Mangram", Forum'' (in ''Crash magazine issue 54, July 1988)

Perhaps all those super hackers who so regularly produce infinite lives etc. could produce pokes to be used by 128K users.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) poke, whence pocket

Noun

(en noun)

* c. 1386 , , The Canterbury Tales'', ''The Miller's Prologue and Tale :

Gerveys answerde, “Certes, were it gold,
Or in a poke nobles alle untold,
Thou sholdest have, as I am trewe smyth.

* c. 1599 , , As You Like It , act 2, scene 7:

And then he drew a dial from his poke ,
And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
Says very wisely, ‘It is ten o'clock…’

* 1605 , , Remaines Concerning Brittaine'', 1629 edition, ''Proverbes , page 276:

When the Pig is proffered, hold vp the poke .

* 1627 , , Minor Poems of Michael Drayton'', 1907 edition, poem ''Nimphidia :

And suddainly vntyes the Poke ,
Which out of it sent such a smoke,
As ready was them all to choke,
So greeuous was the pother [...].

* 1814 , September 4, The Examiner'', volume 13, number 349, article ''French Fashions , page 573:

… and as to shape , a nightmare has as much. Under the poke and the muff-box, the face sometimes entirely disappears …

* 1946 , Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues , Payback Press 1999, p. 91:

In the summertime they'd reach out and snatch your straw hat right off your head, and if you were fool enough to go after it your poke was bound to be lighter when you came out.

* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 138:

She did not eat blood-oranges. Her maw gived her one in a poke and she was going to throw it in the bin, Oh it is all black.

A long, wide sleeve; a poke sleeve.

(Scotland, Northern Ireland) An ice cream cone.

Derived terms

* buy a pig in a poke * pocket

Etymology 3

Either a shortening of, or from the same source as, (quod vide).

Noun

(en noun)

(dialectal) Pokeweed.

Synonyms

* see the list at (pokeweed)