Poking

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
poking
    n 1: a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow); "he warned me
         with a jab with his finger"; "he made a thrusting motion
         with his fist" [syn: {jab}, {jabbing}, {poke}, {poking},
         {thrust}, {thrusting}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Poke \Poke\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Poked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Poking}.] [Cf. LG. poken to prick, pierce, thrust, pok a
   dagger, knife, D. pook, G. pocken to beat, also Ir. poc a
   blow, Gael. puc to push.]
   1. To thrust or push against or into with anything pointed;
      hence, to stir up; to excite; as, to poke a fire.
      [1913 Webster]

            He poked John, and said "Sleepest thou ?" --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To thrust with the horns; to gore.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. [From 5th {Poke}, 3.] To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox.
      [Colloq. U. S.]
      [1913 Webster]

   {To poke fun}, to excite fun; to joke; to jest. [Colloq.]

   {To poke fun at}, to make a butt of; to ridicule. [Colloq.]
      [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Poking \Pok"ing\, a.
   Drudging; servile. [Colloq.]
   [1913 Webster]

         Bred to some poking profession.          --Gray.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
72 Moby Thesaurus words for "poking":
      ambling, cautious, circumspect, claudicant, crawling, creeping,
      creeping like snail, deliberate, delving, digging, easy, faltering,
      fishing, flagging, foot-dragging, gentle, gradual, halting,
      hobbled, hobbling, idle, in search of, indolent, languid,
      languorous, lazy, leisurely, limping, loaded for bear, looking for,
      lumbering, moderate, nosy, out for, out for bear, poky, probing,
      prying, relaxed, reluctant, sauntering, searching, shuffling,
      slack, slothful, slow, slow as death, slow as molasses,
      slow as slow, slow-crawling, slow-foot, slow-going, slow-legged,
      slow-moving, slow-paced, slow-poky, slow-running, slow-sailing,
      slow-stepped, sluggish, snail-paced, snaillike, staggering,
      strolling, tentative, toddling, tortoiselike, tottering, trudging,
      turtlelike, unhurried, waddling

    

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