Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POACH, v.t.¹ [Fr. pocher. In Fr. poche is a pocket, a bag or purse net; pocheter des fruits, to mellow fruit in the pocket; Ir. boucquaat is to soften; Sax. pocca, a pouch.]

1. To boil slightly. – Johnson.
2. To dress by boiling slightly and mixing in a soft mass.
3. To begin and not complete. – Bacon.
4. To tread soft ground, or snow and water, as cattle, whose feet penetrate the soil or soft substance and leave deep tracks. [New England.]
5. To steal game; properly, to pocket game, or steal it and convey it away in a bag. England.
6. To steal; to plunder by stealth. They poach Parnassus, and lay claim for praise. – Garth.