Meanings
alternative poky
- Of a room or house, of small volume, cramped.
He loved the little pokey kitchen, where men’s boots tramped, and the dog slept with one eye open for fear of being trodden on; where the lamp hung over the table at night, and everything was so silent.
1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 9”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC - slangSlow.
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivesmall and remote and insignificant
nouna correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans tjoekie
- tjoekieprison
Catalan garjola
- garjolaprison
Czech těsný, malý
- těsnýcramped
- malýcramped
- stísněnýcramped
- pomalýslow
- loudavýslow
- basaprison
- lochprison
- lapákprison
Dutch eng, sloom
- engcramped
- sloomslow
- vurigfast
- norprison
- amigoprison
Finnish pose
- poseprison
French exigu, exigüe
- exigucramped
- exigüecramped
German eng, Gefängnis
- engcramped
- Gefängnisprison
- Knastprison
Lithuanian ankštas
- ankštascramped
Polish ciasny, powolny
- ciasnycramped
- powolnyslow
- szybkifast
- kićprison
Russian те́сный
- те́сный (tésnyj)cramped
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pokey
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
pokey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pokey
“pokey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pokey. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pokey,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pokey.
Source: pokey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.