pock

[ pok ]

noun

1. a pustule on the body in an eruptive disease, as smallpox.
2. a mark or spot left by or resembling such a pustule.
3. a small indentation, pit, hole, or the like.
4. Scot. poke ².

pock

/ pɒk /

noun

1. any pustule resulting from an eruptive disease, esp from smallpox
2. another word for pockmark

Derived Forms

• ˈpocky, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pock¹

before 1000; Middle English pokke, Old English poc; cognate with German Pocke; perhaps akin to Old English pocca. See poke ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of pock¹

Old English pocc; related to Middle Dutch pocke, perhaps to Latin bucca cheek

Example Sentences

Tens of thousands of craters larger than 10 kilometers pock the Moon, but the researchers also figured the collision had to be relatively recent and the resulting crater particularly young.

From Science Magazine

Seventy-eight years later, tourists at the prison turned park can still see a spray of pock marks in the cement floor that were left by those hurled explosives.

From New York Times

Nearly 800,000 chemical munitions containing mustard agent were stored since the 1950s inside row after row of heavily guarded concrete and earthen bunkers that pock the landscape near a large swath of farmland east of Pueblo.

From Washington Times

Nearly 800,000 chemical munitions containing mustard agent were stored since the 1950s inside row after row of heavily guarded concrete and earthen bunkers that pock the landscape near a large swath of farmland east of Pueblo.

From Seattle Times

Jeffrey Briel, who described taking cover with his young grandchildren not far from the gunman, said reminders of the shooting were everywhere — in pock marks in the downtown square left by bullets, in a temporary memorial that now sits beside City Hall.

From New York Times