poach /pəʊtʃ $ poʊtʃ/ BrE AmE verb
[ Sense 1: Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: pochier , from poche 'bag, pocket' ]
[ Sense 2-5: Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: pocher ]
1 . COOK [transitive]
a) to cook an egg in or over gently boiling water, without its shell:
poached eggs on toast
b) to gently cook food, especially fish, in a small amount of boiling water, milk etc:
Poach the salmon in white wine and water.
2 . ANIMALS [intransitive and transitive] to illegally catch or shoot animals, birds, or fish, especially on private land without permission:
Deer have been poached here for years.
3 . PEOPLE [transitive] to persuade someone who belongs to another organization, team etc to leave it and join yours, especially in a secret or dishonest way:
That company’s always poaching our staff.
poach from
Several of their reporters were poached from other papers.
4 . STEAL IDEAS [transitive] to take and use someone else’s ideas unfairly or illegally
poach from
characters poached from Shakespeare
5 . poach on sb’s territory/preserve British English to do something that is someone else’s responsibility, especially when they do not want you to do it
—poaching noun [uncountable] :
the poaching of elephants for their ivory tusks
• • •
THESAURUS
■ ways of cooking something
▪ bake to cook things such as bread or cakes in an oven:
Tom baked a cake for my birthday.
▪ roast to cook meat or vegetables in an oven:
Roast the potatoes for an hour.
▪ fry to cook food in hot oil:
She was frying some mushrooms.
▪ stir-fry to fry small pieces of food while moving them around continuously:
stir-fried tofu and bean sprouts
▪ sauté /ˈsəʊteɪ $ soʊˈteɪ/ to fry vegetables for a short time in a small amount of butter or oil:
Sauté the potatoes in butter.
▪ grill to cook food over or under strong heat:
grilled fish
▪ broil American English to cook food under heat:
broiled fish
▪ boil to cook something in very hot water:
He doesn’t even know how to boil an egg.
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English people seem to love boiled vegetables.
▪ steam to cook vegetables over hot water:
Steam the rice for 15 minutes.
▪ poach to cook food, especially fish or eggs, slowly in hot water:
poached salmon
▪ toast to cook the outside surfaces of bread:
toasted muffins
▪ barbecue to cook food on a metal frame over a fire outdoors:
I thought we could barbecue some mackerel.
▪ microwave to cook food in a microwave oven:
The beans can be microwaved.