/ pəʊtʃ; NAmE poʊtʃ/ verb
1.
[ vn ] to cook food, especially fish, gently in a small amount of liquid :
poached salmon
2.
[ vn ] to cook an egg gently in nearly boiling water after removing its shell
3.
to illegally hunt birds, animals or fish on sb else's property or without permission :
[ vn ]
The elephants are poached for their tusks.
[also v ]
4.
poach (sb/sth) (from sb/sth) to take and use sb/sth that belongs to sb/sth else, especially in a secret, dishonest or unfair way :
[ vn ]
The company poached the contract from their main rivals.
Several of our employees have been poached by a rival firm.
[ v ]
I hope I'm not poaching on your territory (= doing sth that is actually your responsibility) .
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WORD ORIGIN
senses 1 to 2 late Middle English : from Old French pochier , earlier in the sense enclose in a bag, from poche bag, pocket.
senses 3 to 4 early 16th cent. (in the sense push roughly together ): apparently related to poke ; perhaps partly from French pocher enclose in a bag, from poche bag, pocket.