Pinch vs. Pocket — What's the Difference?

To squeeze (something) between the thumb and a finger, the jaws of a tool, or other edges.

A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items.

To cause pain or discomfort to (a part of the body) by pressing or being too tight

A small baglike attachment forming part of a garment and used to carry small articles, as a flat pouch sewn inside a pair of pants or a piece of material sewn on its sides and bottom to the outside of a shirt.

To nip, wither, or shrivel

A small sack or bag.

To cause to be in difficulty or financial distress

A receptacle, cavity, or opening.

(Slang) To take (money or property) wrongfully.

Financial means; money supply

(Slang) To take into custody; arrest.

A small cavity in the earth, especially one containing ore.

To move (something) with a pinch bar.

A small body or accumulation of ore.

(Nautical) To sail (a boat) so close into the wind that its sails shiver and its speed is reduced.

A pouch in an animal body, such as the cheek pouch of a rodent or the abdominal pouch of a marsupial.

To press, squeeze, or bind painfully

(Games) One of the pouchlike receptacles at the corners and sides of a billiard or pool table.

To draw a thumb and a finger together on a touchscreen to cause the image to become smaller.

(Sports) The webbing attached to the head of a lacrosse stick, in which the ball is caught and held.

To be frugal or miserly

(Baseball) The deepest part of a baseball glove, just below the web, where the ball is normally caught.

(Nautical) To drag an oar at the end of a stroke.

(Sports) A racing position in which a contestant has no room to pass a group of contestants immediately to that contestant's front or side.

The act or an instance of pinching.

A small, isolated, or protected area or group

An amount that can be held between thumb and forefinger

(Football) The area a few yards behind the line of scrimmage that blockers attempt to keep clear so that the quarterback can pass the ball.

Difficulty or hardship

An air pocket.

An emergency situation

A bin for storing ore, grain, or other materials.

A narrowing of a mineral deposit, as in a mine.

Suitable for or capable of being carried in one's pocket

(Informal) A theft.

Small; miniature

(Slang) An arrest by a law enforcement officer.

Designating the two cards that are dealt to a player face down in Texas hold'em

Relating to pinch-hitting or pinch runners

To place in a pocket

To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

To take possession of for oneself, especially dishonestly

To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.

To accept or tolerate (an insult, for example).

To squeeze between two objects.

To conceal or suppress

(intransitive) Of clothing, to be uncomfortably tight in specific spots.

To prevent (a bill) from becoming law by failing to sign until the adjournment of the legislature.

To steal, usually something inconsequential.

(Sports) To hem in (a competitor) in a race.

To arrest or capture.

(Games) To hit (a ball) into a pocket of a pool or billiard table.

(horticulture) To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.

A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.

(nautical) To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.

Such a receptacle seen as housing someone's money; hence, financial resources.

(hunting) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.

An indention and cavity with a net sack or similar structure (into which the balls are to be struck) at each corner and one centered on each side of a pool or snooker table.

To be stingy or covetous; to live sparingly.

An enclosed volume of one substance surrounded by another.

(of animals) To seize; to grip; to bite.

(Australia) An area of land surrounded by a loop of a river.

(figurative) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.

(Australian rules football) The area of the field to the side of the goal posts (four pockets in total on the field, one to each side of the goals at each end of the ground). The pocket is only a roughly defined area, extending from the behind post, at an angle, to perhaps about 30 meters out.

To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.

(American football) The area behind the line of scrimmage subject to certain rules regarding intentional grounding, illegal contact, etc., formally extending to the end zone but more usually understood as the central area around the quarterback directly protected by the offensive line.

(obsolete) To complain or find fault.

(military) An area where military units are completely surrounded by enemy units.

The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

(rugby) The position held by a second defensive middle, where an advanced middle must retreat after making a touch on the attacking middle.

A close compression of anything with the fingers.

(surfing) The unbroken part of a wave that offers the surfer the most power.

A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.

A large bag or sack formerly used for packing various articles, such as ginger, hops, or cowries; the pocket of wool held about 168 pounds.

An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.

(architecture) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, etc.

A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.

(mining) A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.

An organic herbal smoke additive.

(nautical) A strip of canvas sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.

(physics) A magnetic compression of an electrically-conducting filament.

The pouch of an animal.

The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.

(bowling) The ideal point where the pins are hit by the bowling ball.

(slang) An arrest.

A socket for receiving the base of a post, stake, etc.

To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, between teeth or claws, or between the jaws of an instrument; to squeeze or compress, as between any two hard bodies.

A bight on a lee shore.

To seize; to grip; to bite; - said of animals.

(dentistry) A small space between a tooth and the adjoining gum, formed by an abnormal separation of the two.

To plait.

A small, isolated group or area.

Figuratively: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money.

(transitive) To put (something) into a pocket.

To seize by way of theft; to steal; to lift.

To cause a ball to go into one of the pockets of the table; to complete a shot.

To catch; to arrest (a criminal).

To take and keep (something, especially money, that is not one's own).

To act with pressing force; to compress; to squeeze; as, the shoe pinches.

To put up with; to bear without complaint.

To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.

Of a size suitable for putting into a pocket.

To spare; to be niggardly; to be covetous.

Smaller or more compact than usual.

A close compression, as with the ends of the fingers, or with an instrument; a nip.

Referring to the two initial hole cards.

As much as may be taken between the finger and thumb; any very small quantity; as, a pinch of snuff.

Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use;

Pian; pang.

A bag or pouch; especially; a small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles, particularly money; hence, figuratively, money; wealth.

A lever having a projection at one end, acting as a fulcrum, - used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, etc. Called also pinch bar.

One of several bags attached to a billiard table, into which the balls are driven.

A painful or straitened circumstance;

A large bag or sack used in packing various articles, as ginger, hops, cowries, etc.

An injury resulting from getting some body part squeezed

A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.

A slight but appreciable addition;

A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.

A sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action;

A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.

Small sharp biting

Same as Pouch.

A squeeze with the fingers

Any hollow place suggestive of a pocket in form or use;

The act of apprehending (especially apprehending a criminal);

An isolated group or area which has properties in contrast to the surrounding area; as, a pocket of poverty in an affluent region; pockets of resistance in a conquered territory; a pocket of unemployment in a booming ecomony.

Squeeze tightly between the fingers;

The area from which a quarterback throws a pass, behind the line of scrimmage, delineated by the defensive players of his own team who protect him from attacking opponents; as, he had ample time in the pocket to choose an open receiver.

Make ridges into by pinching together

The part of a baseball glove covering the palm of the wearer's hand.

Make off with belongings of others

The space between the head pin and one of the pins in the second row, considered as the optimal point at which to aim the bowling ball in order to get a strike.

Cut the top off;

To put, or conceal, in the pocket; as, to pocket the change.

Irritate as if by a nip, pinch, or tear;

To take clandestinely or fraudulently.

A small pouch inside a garment for carrying small articles

An enclosed space;

A supply of money;

(bowling) the space between the headpin and the pins next bnehind it on the right or left;

A hollow concave shape made by removing something

A local region of low pressure or descending air that causes a plane to lose height suddenly

A small isolated group of people;

(anatomy) saclike structure in any of various animals (as a marsupial or gopher or pelican)

An opening at the corner or on the side of a billiard table into which billiard balls are struck

Put in one's pocket;

Take unlawfully