poky

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   informal, especially British: too small, cramped, or lacking space

   Four people could barely move around the poky little kitchen.

2. 2
   adj

   informal, especially North American: annoyingly slow

   The poky bus took nearly an hour to cross town.

3. 3
   adj

   shabby, dull, or insignificant

   They spent the night in a poky hotel beside the station.

Formed in the early nineteenth century from poke + -y. The cramped sense reflects a then-current use of poke meaning "to confine"; the later slow sense developed in North American English. Pokey is a common spelling variant.

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