Pouch

//paʊt͡ʃ// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small bag usually closed with a drawstring.
  2. 2
    a small or medium size container for holding or carrying things wordnet
  3. 3
    An organic pocket in which a marsupial carries its young.
  4. 4
    (anatomy) saclike structure in any of various animals (as a marsupial or gopher or pelican) wordnet
  5. 5
    Any pocket or bag-shaped object, such as a cheek pouch.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    an enclosed space wordnet
  2. 7
    A protuberant belly; a paunch. dated, derogatory, slang
  3. 8
    A cyst or sac containing fluid.

    "[…]form a large Pouch or Cyst"

  4. 9
    A silicle, or short pod, as of the shepherd's purse.
  5. 10
    A bulkhead in the hold of a vessel, to prevent grain etc. from shifting.
Verb
  1. 1
    To enclose within a pouch. transitive

    "The beggar pouched the coin."

  2. 2
    swell or protrude outwards wordnet
  3. 3
    To transport within a pouch, especially a diplomatic pouch. transitive

    "We pouched the encryption device to our embassy in Beijing."

  4. 4
    send by special mail that goes through diplomatic channels wordnet
  5. 5
    To swallow.

    "And, to name no more, the common Heron hath its most remarkable Parts adapted to this Service; long Legs for wading; and a long Neck answerable thereto to reach Prey; a wide, extensive Throat to pouch it; long Toes, with strong hooked Talons […]"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    put into a small bag wordnet
  2. 7
    To pout. obsolete, rare

    "He pouched his mouth, and reared himself up and swelled; but answered me not."

  3. 8
    To pocket; to put up with. obsolete

    "And for the value of the gowden piece , it shall never be said I pouched her siller"

Synonyms

All synonyms
bulgeabideabybagballoonbear

Example

More examples

"A female kangaroo carries its young in the pouch."

Etymology

From Middle English pouche, poche, borrowed from Old Northern French pouche, from Old French poche, puche (whence French poche; compare also the Anglo-Norman variant poke), of Germanic origin: from Frankish *poka (“pouch”) (compare Middle Dutch poke, Old English pohha, dialectal German Pfoch). Doublet of poke; compare pocket.

Related phrases

Faraday pouchMorison's pouchPavlov pouchRathke's pouchabdominal pouchbrood pouchlaryngeal pouchpencil pouchpillow pouchposing pouchpouch of Morisonretort pouch

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.