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# poky

«poky» in Mova's school dictionary: **Of a room or house: small and cramped, with not enough space** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (poky, pokier, pokiest — informal; also pokey)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (informal) Of a room or house: small and cramped, with not enough space. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#m1)

2) (USA, informal) Slow and dull. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#m2)

3) (noun, USA slang, «the pokey») jail. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

Everyday talk about homes and rooms: «a poky little flat». In stories it tells the reader a place is tight and uncomfortable. In The Wind in the Willows Mole's home, Mole End, is small but cosy, and Mole worries the Rat will think it poky and shabby.

### examples

- They lived in a poky little flat above the shop. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#x1)
- My bedroom is a bit poky. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#x2)
- The car was poky and slow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#x3)
- Mole feared the Rat would think his house was poky. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#x4)
- It was hard to cook in the poky kitchen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#x5)
- We squeezed into a poky little café. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/#x6)

### note

Informal. Also spelled pokey (especially in the USA). Not the same as «pokey» meaning jail in American slang.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «poky» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/poky/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.