What's the difference between poke and prod?

Poke


Definition:

  • (n.) A large North American herb of the genus Phytolacca (P. decandra), bearing dark purple juicy berries; -- called also garget, pigeon berry, pocan, and pokeweed. The root and berries have emetic and purgative properties, and are used in medicine. The young shoots are sometimes eaten as a substitute for asparagus, and the berries are said to be used in Europe to color wine.
  • (n.) A bag; a sack; a pocket.
  • (n.) A long, wide sleeve; -- called also poke sleeve.
  • (v. t.) To thrust or push against or into with anything pointed; hence, to stir up; to excite; as, to poke a fire.
  • (v. t.) To thrust with the horns; to gore.
  • (v. t.) To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox.
  • (v. i.) To search; to feel one's way, as in the dark; to grope; as, to poke about.
  • (n.) The act of poking; a thrust; a jog; as, a poke in the ribs.
  • (n.) A lazy person; a dawdler; also, a stupid or uninteresting person.
  • (n.) A contrivance to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences. It consists of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Experts on the red web share their views Read more Earlier this year student Ruslan Starostin posted an image poking fun at Putin on VKontakte.
  • (2) Kim Kardashian: Hollywood could benefit from a sharper script and more willingness – or freedom, which may be the issue given the game’s official status – to poke at the culture it’s representing.
  • (3) Agüero’s run was as strong as it was skilful, beating four attempted tacklers in a drive into the penalty area that ended with him poking the ball past Ruddy as the goalkeeper came out to narrow the angle.
  • (4) As Cavani was shunted of the ball, it broke to Suarez, who aimed a quick-witted toe-poke at the bottom corner from 15 yards, only to be denied by Buffon, who showed tremendous agility to plunge to his right and tip it around the post!
  • (5) A Cairo heart surgeon inspired by the US news programme The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has captivated Egyptian viewers with a new style of satirical TV show poking fun at politicians on air for the first time.
  • (6) Two measures of exploration (rearing, nose poking) were recorded during a single brief exposure.
  • (7) Previously a cover-up and reworking of a tattoo beneath, when she was performing across the UK with Girls Aloud in February , you could see the bold work in progress poking above her backless stage costumes.
  • (8) Nose-poke responses with stimulation of the non-lesioned MPC were just about normal.
  • (9) ForzaVista is back, but it's been hugely expanded allowing players to poke around every nook and cranny of every car in the game.
  • (10) Juan nearly pokes a backpass past an advancing Julio Cesar; the keeper does well to hack clear.
  • (11) Silva c Prior b Anderson 13 (Sri Lanka 37-1) Anderson continues for the eighth and presumably final over of his opening spell and again he beats the bat with successive deliveries, drawing a checked drive outside off then a cautious poke.
  • (12) Even if that means poking the front half of the pantomime horse where it hurts.
  • (13) The three young men were trying to get to grips with a troubling scene in which they lark about with a baby in its pram, poking it, pulling off its nappy, goading each other until they stone it to death.
  • (14) Within a few minutes, I had them picking up crabs and poking anenomes.
  • (15) Only they who love without desire shall have power granted them in their darkest hour!” As I have confessed before, in 1992 I was a gag writer on a doomed Channel 4 show, A Pig in a Poke .
  • (16) Lochhead nips in to poke the pass out of the striker's reach.
  • (17) Suárez conjured space on the left of the box and his cross-shot bounced off the post and out to Downing, who sidestepped two defenders before firing a shot that Kenny beat into the path of Kuyt, who poked the ball in from five yards.
  • (18) And when the US president pokes his finger in this one, it is a hornets nest.” Shen Dingli, a prominent Chinese foreign policy expert from Shanghai’s Fudan University, told the New York Times such behaviour from Trump could not be tolerated once he reached the White House.
  • (19) "We will share a monarch, we will share a currency and, under our proposals, we will share a social union, but we won't have diktats from Westminster for Scotland and we won't have Scottish MPs poking their nose into English business in the House of Commons," said Salmond.
  • (20) Poke about at the right ancient monuments and you will find reference to dates that go back billions and billions of years.

Prod


Definition:

  • (n.) A pointed instrument for pricking or puncturing, as a goad, an awl, a skewer, etc.
  • (n.) A prick or stab which a pointed instrument.
  • (n.) A light kind of crossbow; -- in the sense, often spelled prodd.
  • (v. t.) To thrust some pointed instrument into; to prick with something sharp; as, to prod a soldier with a bayonet; to prod oxen; hence, to goad, to incite, to worry; as, to prod a student.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Anatomists involved with studies of the hippocampal formation are being prodded by computational modelers and physiologists who demand detailed and quantitative information concerning hippocampal neurons and circuits.
  • (2) When exposed to the nonelectrified prod after 24 h, total burying time was reduced in the 2mA group but still significantly longer than in the 0mA group.
  • (3) New Jersey environmentalists credit Jackson with prodding Governor Jon Corzine to adopt environmentally friendly policies.
  • (4) Both in the presence and absence of bedding material, rats explored the nonelectrified prod and showed a small increase in plasma NA and CS contents.
  • (5) While the Nexus One's single-finger prodding works well enough, there's none of the pinching action to zoom into maps and photographs that makes the iPhone feel so advanced, nor its realistic-feel friction.
  • (6) Barratt, a housebuilder not always associated with design quality, has built the St Andrews and Barrier Park projects in east London, albeit only after prodding from the London Development Agency, the public body that sold it the land.
  • (7) Unfortunately for the assembled crowds, Ting kept his powder dry, despite much prodding and questioning, revealing nothing about the year's worth of data from AMS except to say that they would be "important" results and would be made public when he submitted them to a scientific journal within a few weeks.
  • (8) Lamine Koné pounced on a knockdown from Jan Kirchhoff in the penalty area, evaded a tackle and squared for the substitute to prod home from seven yards and prompt scenes of unbridled jubilation in the away end.
  • (9) Olsson, totally unmarked, had the simple task of prodding over the line.
  • (10) Stun guns, shock batons and cattle prods are electric shock devices which can be used as weapons against the human body.
  • (11) While the degree of anxiety is measured by burying behavior, elicited by the novelty of prod shock, immobility was the prevalent response of WKY rats.
  • (12) Cut through the fine print and this is the bottom line: p eople with children over the age of six will be prodded back into the workforce.
  • (13) In microsomal fractions, enzyme activities measured were pentoxyresorufin O-dealkylase (PROD), ethoxyresorufin O-dealkylase (EROD), and epoxide hydrolase (mEH).
  • (14) They don't even get to go home for a sleep because dough requires contant prodding, waiting, more prodding and worrying.
  • (15) The enriched Clara cell fraction possessed (per 10(6) cells) greater P-450 and reduced GSH contents and higher enzyme activities (i.e., NADPH- and NADH cytochrome c reductases, benzyloxy (BROD)-, pentoxy (PROD)- and etoxyresorufin (EROD)-O-dealkylases, GSH transferase, GSH peroxidase, GSH reductase and NADPH quinone oxidoreductase) than either the enriched type II cell or endothelial cell preparations.
  • (16) UN officials said in advance they hoped new commitments from the big industrialised states, such as Japan and China, would prod other countries into action so that they not be seen as the spoilers of a potential deal at Copenhagen.
  • (17) It will need lots of tweaking to avoid annoying people – it's already being prodded to see whether it takes more or fewer clicks to reach the phone-dialer (more), and whether you can still set wallpaper (no, but your friends do with their picture – you may need to prune your friends).
  • (18) The Arsenal defender was caught in possession on the edge of the box by the striker Haris Tabakovic and he crossed for Kamberi who could only prod wide.
  • (19) Superstars where they attended college, hopefuls suddenly find themselves in unusual situations – as lambs in the middle of an Indianapolis field, being poked, prodded, measured and assessed; then as masters and conquerors, listening to famous GMs and coaches playing salesmen and extolling the virtues of their organisation.
  • (20) Funding for Lending lets the banks borrow billions at just 0.25% interest to prod them to loosen the purse strings, especially for first-time buyers who face huge hurdles when finding loans.