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Glite Dictionary
to poke at

to poke at

9 2.5
Push gently at something or someone with a finger
  • phrasal verb
  • /poʊk æt/
translation icon : picar
  • I poked at it with a stick.
  • poke at the food
  • fork to poke at
  • poked at with a stick

You get a wound and then you're poked at with a knife until you have a wound and then then you smear ash in the wound, which itself is a poem.

Examples

  • He always liked fires and poking at them with a stick.

    Sunset Boulevard (1950)

  • Leda and Pearline giggled and poked at each other and at Ruth.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • "Pulling his drink closer to him, Albert poked at the ice in his glass.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • A lot of them were poking at the bases of the three towers.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • "I went back to the kitchen and poked at the carrots."

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Eric chews on some roots and pokes at the fire to keep it lively.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The baby went back to poking at the small dent he'd made in the ground.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Then he got out, opened the hood, tugged at hoses, and poked at wires.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The goldfish stall man struggles to keep control as Billi pokes at the fish prizes in their polythene bags.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The child gently poke at the pile of leaves to see if any hidden animals were inside.

Synonyms

to dig
vsto poke at
50 2.4

To push something quickly into a person or thing

push gently and slowly rather than thrusting abruptly with force
to nudge
vsto poke at
33 3.8

To push someone gently with an elbow or hand to get attention

push gently with finger or stick rather than using body contact
to prod
vsto poke at
4 3.7

To poke a person, animal, or object with a stick

push gently instead of forcefully to touch or check something

Antonyms

to withdraw
466 2.8

To stop taking part in a place or activity

to refrain
87 4.2

Choose not to do something you want to do

How Forceful

to stab
  • NSFW
459 2.7
jab
16 3.0
to prod
4 3.7
to poke at
9 2.5
to tap
174 1.0
to touch
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

poke at infinitive
poked at past
poked at past participle
poking at present participle
pokes at third person singular

Morphology

poke + at

The meaning 'to push or prod something' is directly compositional from 'poke' (to prod or push) plus the preposition 'at' which marks the target of the action; there is no idiomatic shift. This verb + preposition pattern is structurally transparent and common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrasal verb poke at comes from the simple image of using a finger or a stick to poke something at it, like tapping or nudging to see what will happen. That's why it means 'to push or prod something or someone gently'.