A pocket is a small bag, particularly a bag-like recepticle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing.
There was a sack called a pocket which was used particularly for storing 168 to 224 lb (76 to 102 kg) of hops.
The word appears in Middle English as poket, and is taken from a Norman diminutive of O. Fr. poke, pouque, mod. poche, cf. pouch.
The form poke is now only used dialectically, or in such proverbial sayings as "a pig in a poke," and possibly in the poke-bonnet, the coal-scuttle bonnet fashionable during the first part of the 19th century, and now worn by the female members of the Salvation Army; more probably the name of the bonnet is connected with poke, to thrust forward, dig. The origin of this is obscure. Dutch has poken, pook, a dagger; Swedish pk, a stick.
A fob pocket is a small pocket designed to hold an old style pocket watch in mens' trousers and vests.
Adapted from the
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
