POACH

To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel. Bacon.

To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder. Garth.

To steal or pocket game, or to carry it away privately, as in a bag; to kill or destroy game contrary to law, especially by night; to hunt or fish unlawfully; as, to poach for rabbits or for salmon.

To stab; to pierce; to spear, \as fish. [Obs.] Carew.

To force, drive, or plunge into anything. [Obs.] His horse poching one of his legs into some hollow ground. Sir W. Temple.

To make soft or muddy by trampling Tennyson.

To begin and not complete. [Obs.] Bacon.

To become soft or muddy. Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and poach in winter. Mortimer.