Pock·et n.
 1. A bag or pouch; especially; a small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles, particularly money; hence, figuratively, money; wealth.
 2. One of several bags attached to a billiard table, into which the balls are driven.
 3. A large bag or sack used in packing various articles, as ginger, hops, cowries, etc.
 Note: ☞ In the wool or hop trade, the pocket contains half a sack, or about 168 Ibs.; but it is a variable quantity, the articles being sold by actual weight.
 4. Arch. A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
 5. Mining. (a) A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity. (b) A hole containing water.
 6. Nat. A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
 7. Zool. Same as Pouch.
 8. Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use; specif.: (a) A bin for storing coal, grain, etc. (b) A socket for receiving the foot of a post, stake, etc. (c) A bight on a lee shore. (d) a small cavity in the body, especially one abnormally filled with a fluid; as, a pocket of pus. (e) Dentistry a small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the gum from the tooth.
 Note: ☞ Pocket is often used adjectively in the sense of small, or in the formation of compound words usually of obvious signification; as, pocket knife, pocket comb, pocket compass, pocket edition, pocket handkerchief, pocket money, pocket picking, or pocket-picking, etc.
 deep pocket or deep pockets, wealth or substantial financial assets.
 Note: Used esp. in legal actions, where plaintiffs desire to find a defendant with "deep pockets", so as to be able to actually obtain the sum of damages which may be judged due to him.  This contrasts with a "judgment-proof" defendant, one who has neither assets nor insurance, and against whom a judgment for monetary damages would be uncollectable and worthless.  --Out of pocket. See under Out, prep.
 Pocket borough, a borough “owned” by some person. See under Borough. [Eng.]
 Pocket gopher Zool., any one of several species of American rodents of the genera Geomys, and Thomomys, family Geomydæ.  They have large external cheek pouches, and are fossorial in their habits. they inhabit North America, from the Mississippi Valley west to the Pacific. Called also pouched gopher.
 Pocket mouse Zool., any species of American mice of the family Saccomyidæ. They have external cheek pouches. Some of them are adapted for leaping (genus Dipadomys), and are called kangaroo mice. They are native of the Southwestern United States, Mexico, etc.
 Pocket piece, a piece of money kept in the pocket and not spent.
 Pocket pistol, a pistol to be carried in the pocket.
 Pocket sheriff Eng. Law, a sheriff appointed by the sole authority of the crown, without a nomination by the judges in the exchequer. --Burrill.


 Pouched a. Zool. (a) Having a marsupial pouch; as, the pouched badger, or the wombat. (b) Having external cheek pouches; as, the pouched gopher. (c) Having internal cheek pouches; as, the pouched squirrels.
 Pouched dog. Zool. See Zebra wolf, under Zebra.
 Pouched frog Zool., the nototrema, the female of which has a dorsal pouch in which the eggs are hatched, and in which the young pass through their brief tadpole stage.
 Pouched gopher, or Pouched rat. Zool. See Pocket gopher, under Pocket.
 Pouched mouse. Zool. See Pocket mouse, under Pocket.

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 Purse n.
 1. A small bag or pouch, the opening of which is made to draw together closely, used to carry money in; by extension, any receptacle for money carried on the person; a wallet; a pocketbook; a portemonnaie.
    Who steals my purse steals trash.   --Shak.
 2. Hence, a treasury; finances; as, the public purse.
 3. A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a present; as, to win the purse; to make up a purse.
 4. A specific sum of money; as: (a) In Turkey, the sum of 500 piasters. (b) In Persia, the sum of 50 tomans.
 Light purse, or Empty purse, poverty or want of resources.
 Long purse, ∨ Heavy purse, wealth; riches.
 Purse crab Zool., any land crab of the genus Birgus, allied to the hermit crabs. They sometimes weigh twenty pounds or more, and are very strong, being able to crack cocoanuts with the large claw. They chiefly inhabit the tropical islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, living in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also palm crab.
 Purse net, a fishing net, the mouth of which may be closed or drawn together like a purse. --Mortimer.
 Purse pride, pride of money; insolence proceeding from the possession of wealth. --Bp. Hall.
 Purse rat. Zool. See Pocket gopher, under Pocket.
 Sword and purse, the military power and financial resources of a nation.


 Rat n.
 1. Zool. One of several species of small rodents of the genus Rattus (formerly included in Mus) and allied genera, of the family Muridae, distinguished from mice primarily by being larger.  They infest houses, stores, and ships, especially the Norway rat, also called brown rat, (Rattus norvegicus formerly Mus decumanus), the black rat (Rattus rattus formerly Mus rattus), and the roof rat (formerly Mus Alexandrinus, now included in Rattus rattus). These were introduced into America from the Old World.  The white rat used most commonly in laboratories is primarily a strain derived from Rattus rattus.
 2. A round and tapering mass of hair, or similar material, used by women to support the puffs and rolls of their natural hair. [Local, U.S.]
 3. One who deserts his party or associates; hence, in the trades, one who works for lower wages than those prescribed by a trades union. [Cant]
 Note: ☞ “It so chanced that, not long after the accession of the house of Hanover, some of the brown, that is the German or Norway, rats, were first brought over to this country (in some timber as is said); and being much stronger than the black, or, till then, the common, rats, they in many places quite extirpated the latter. The word (both the noun and the verb to rat) was first, as we have seen, leveled at the converts to the government of George the First, but has by degrees obtained a wider meaning, and come to be applied to any sudden and mercenary change in politics.”
 Bamboo rat Zool., any Indian rodent of the genus Rhizomys.
 Beaver rat, Coast rat. Zool. See under Beaver and Coast.
 Blind rat Zool., the mole rat.
 Cotton rat Zool., a long-haired rat (Sigmodon hispidus), native of the Southern United States and Mexico. It makes its nest of cotton and is often injurious to the crop.
 Ground rat. See Ground Pig, under Ground.
 Hedgehog rat. See under Hedgehog.
 Kangaroo rat Zool., the potoroo.
 Norway rat Zool., the common brown rat. See Rat.
 Pouched rat. Zool. (a) See Pocket Gopher, under Pocket. (b) Any African rodent of the genus Cricetomys. Rat Indians Ethnol., a tribe of Indians dwelling near Fort Ukon, Alaska.  They belong to the Athabascan stock.
 Rat mole. Zool. See Mole rat, under Mole.
 Rat pit, an inclosed space into which rats are put to be killed by a dog for sport.
 Rat snake Zool., a large colubrine snake (Ptyas mucosus) very common in India and Ceylon.  It enters dwellings, and destroys rats, chickens, etc.
 Spiny rat Zool., any South American rodent of the genus Echinomys.
 To smell a rat. See under Smell.
 Wood rat Zool., any American rat of the genus Neotoma, especially Neotoma Floridana, common in the Southern United States. Its feet and belly are white.


 Go·pher n.  Zool.
 1. One of several North American burrowing rodents of the genera Geomys and Thomomys, of the family Geomyidæ; -- called also pocket gopher and pouched rat. See Pocket gopher, and Tucan.
 Note: ☞ The name was originally given by French settlers to many burrowing rodents, from their honeycombing the earth.
 2. One of several western American species of the genus Spermophilus, of the family Sciuridæ; as, the gray gopher (Spermophilus Franklini) and the striped gopher (S. tridecemlineatus); -- called also striped prairie squirrel, leopard marmot, and leopard spermophile. See Spermophile.
 3. A large land tortoise (Testudo Carilina) of the Southern United States, which makes extensive burrows.
 4. A large burrowing snake (Spilotes Couperi) of the Southern United States.
 Gopher drift Mining, an irregular prospecting drift, following or seeking the ore without regard to regular grade or section.  --Raymond.

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 pocket gopher
      n : burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae having large
          external cheek pouches; of Central America and
          southwestern North America [syn: gopher, pouched rat]