poach

verb

1. (transitive)To cook (something) in simmering or very hot liquid (usually water; sometimes wine, broth, or otherwise).

   “Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car. Mulligatawny soup, poached turbot, roast leg of lamb—the usual railway dinner.”

2. (intransitive)To be cooked in such manner.

   “The white of an egg with spirit of wine, doth bake the egg into clots, as if it began to poach.”

3. (ambitransitive)To trespass on another's property to take fish or game.
4. (ambitransitive)To take game or fish illegally.

   “A 2016 study using carbon dating of more than 200 tusks from seizures spanning nine countries suggested that illegal ivory originates from elephants poached recently, instead of being pilfered from aging stockpiles kept by various nations.”

5. (ambitransitive, broadly)To take anything illegally or unfairly.

   “Chelsea's embarrassment was symbolised by Ross Barkley's inexplicable header straight to the feet of Aguero to poach his second and Ilkay Gundogan capped that early blitz with a low drive.”

6. (figuratively)To intrude; to interfere; to get involved inappropriately, without welcome.

   “to poach in foreign academic disciplines”

7. (ambitransitive)To entice (an employee or customer) to switch from a competing company to one's own.

   “EBay has accused three Amazon managers of illegally conspiring to poach its sellers, escalating a monthslong feud between two of the country’s largest e-commerce companies.”

8. To make soft or muddy by trampling.

   “Cattle coming to drink had punched and poached the river bank into a mess of mud.”

   “the poach'd filth that floods the middle street”

9. To become soft or muddy by being trampled on.

   “Chalky and clay lands […] chap in summer, and poach in winter.”

10. (obsolete)To stab; to pierce; to spear or drive or plunge into something.

    “They vse alſo to poche them with an instrument somewhat like the Sammon-speare”

    “his horse poching one of his legs into some hollow ground”

    “And the laws of your wrastling are that neither shall strangle his adversary with his hands, nor bite him, nor claw nor scratch his flesh, nor poach out his eyes, nor smite him with his fists, nor do any other unfair thing against him, but in all other respects ye shall wrastle freely together.”

    “Mutt Malvern stands with a wicked blade in one hand and, in the other, a three-pronged leister spear of the sort used to poach fish or birds.”

noun

1. The act of cooking in simmering liquid.

   “Peaches are so perfect they need very little to make them extra special—just a quick poach in basil-scented rosé wine and a few adoring strawberries.”

2. The act of taking something unfairly, as in tennis doubles where one player returns a shot that their partner was better placed to return.