as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
joked about the time he passed out on the street and woke up in the pokey
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Recent Examples of pokey
This pokey lime green plant is a bit of a chameleon, changing colour when stressed by lack of water or bad weather.
—
Katy Kelleher, refinery29.com, 29 July 2024
Calvin Klein’s racerback bralette is made from ultra-soft and stretch-infused cotton for optimal breathability, and it’s designed without pokey underwires, too.
—Emily Weaver, Peoplemag, 27 July 2024
The Embraceable Bra provides the support of underwire cups without an uncomfortably firm or pokey feeling.
—Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 15 Dec. 2023
Dropping the hammer from a stop gets it to 60 mph in just 4.1 seconds, which opens plenty of opportunities for maneuvering around traffic's pokey dullards.
—Austin Irwin, Car and Driver, 31 May 2023
See All Example Sentences for pokey
Katy Kelleher, refinery29.com, 29 July 2024
Calvin Klein’s racerback bralette is made from ultra-soft and stretch-infused cotton for optimal breathability, and it’s designed without pokey underwires, too.
—Emily Weaver, Peoplemag, 27 July 2024
The Embraceable Bra provides the support of underwire cups without an uncomfortably firm or pokey feeling.
—Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 15 Dec. 2023
Dropping the hammer from a stop gets it to 60 mph in just 4.1 seconds, which opens plenty of opportunities for maneuvering around traffic's pokey dullards.
—Austin Irwin, Car and Driver, 31 May 2023
See All Example Sentences for pokey
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pokey
Noun
-
Seven inmates are still at large on May 19 after escaping from a New Orleans jail through a hole behind a toilet.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
20 May 2025
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Boyd and Price were also in jail on serious charges.—
Sophie Clark,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 May 2025
Noun
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In June 2024, three people were sentenced to eight months in prison after being found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Jr in that May 2023 match at Valencia.—
Colin Millar,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
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In that case, Douglas was sentenced to five years of probation and had his 2-year prison sentence stayed, court documents say.—
Julia Marnin,
Miami Herald,
19 May 2025
Noun
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The gallows, where 15 penitentiary inmates were executed by hanging, were no longer there.—
Tammy Ljungblad,
Kansas City Star,
17 May 2025
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Instead, Trump took a number of potshots at his sometime opponent during a Tuesday press conference, less than 48 hours after ordering the Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary.—
Nicole Nixon,
Sacbee.com,
7 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pokey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pokey. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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