poker
noun
- family of card games
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpoʊkɚ/ / /ˈpəʊkə/
noun
Etymology: Compare Danish pokker (“the deuce, devil”), and English puck.
- Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to haunt the darkness; a bugbear.
“The very leaves on the horse-chesnuts[…]cling to the bough as if old poker was coming to take them away.”
verb
Etymology: American English, perhaps from first element of German Pochspiel, from German pochen, perhaps from French poque. First appeared in the 19th century.
- To play poker.
“Then we went to Mead's and pokered until morning.”
“Papa liked nothing better than a game of poker . His pokering habits caused Mama grave anxiety.”