- poach
- poach [pəutʃ US poutʃ] v▬▬▬▬▬▬▬1¦(cook)¦2¦(animals)¦3¦(people)¦4¦(steal ideas)¦5 poach on somebody's territory/preserve▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[Sense: 1; Date: 1400-1500; : Old French; Origin: pochier, from poche 'bag, pocket'][Sense: 2-5; Date: 1600-1700; : Old French; Origin: pocher]1.) ¦(COOK)¦ [T]a) to cook an egg in or over gently boiling water, without its shell▪ poached eggs on toastb) to gently cook food, especially fish, in a small amount of boiling water, milk etc▪ Poach the salmon in white wine and water.2.) ¦(ANIMALS)¦ [I and T]to illegally catch or shoot animals, birds, or fish, especially on private land without permission▪ Deer have been poached here for years.3.) ¦(PEOPLE)¦ [T]to persuade someone who belongs to another organization, team etc to leave it and join yours, especially in a secret or dishonest way▪ That company's always poaching our staff.poach from▪ Several of their reporters were poached from other papers.4.) ¦(STEAL IDEAS)¦ [T]to take and use someone else's ideas unfairly or illegallypoach from▪ characters poached from Shakespeare5.) poach on sb's territory/preserveBrE to do something that is someone else's responsibility, especially when they do not want you to do it>poaching n [U]▪ the poaching of elephants for their ivory tusks
Dictionary of contemporary English. 2013.