pockets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pocket.

   The tailor added two extra pockets to the inside of the jacket.

   She searched all her pockets but couldn't find the receipt.

   Note

   Every kind of pocket takes the same regular -s: those sewn into a jacket, the six cut into a pool or snooker table, pockets of gas trapped in rock, and the rough areas beside the goalposts on a field. In Australia the word also names land cupped by a loop of river. The spelling is shared with the verb meaning "puts away", so only the sentence tells a table's pockets from a player who pockets a ball.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of pocket.

   The cashier carefully pockets the tip left on the counter.

   Each quarter the firm pockets a healthy profit from overseas sales.

   Note

   Agreement does the work here: the waiter pockets the tip, but waiters pocket it. Nearly every use takes an object, and the object signals the meaning. A pool player pockets a ball, and a dishonest clerk pockets money that is not his. In dated usage someone pockets an insult, swallowing it without complaint. That last sense now sounds old-fashioned and is best kept for period writing.

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