A pocket is a small bag, particularly a bag-like receptacle 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 men's trousers and vests.

Adapted from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pocket).  11/10/04