▪ I. poached, ppl. a.1
(ˈpəʊtʃd)
[f. poach v.1 + -ed1.]
a. Of an egg: Cooked in boiling water, without the shell. Also in extended use (see poach v.1 1).
| c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 94 Potage de egges. MS. Douce, Pocched egges. 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. F j b, Poched egges are better than egges rosted hard or rere. 1620 Venner Via Recta v. 84 A couple of potched [ed. 1650 poched] Egges. 1742 Fielding Jos. Andrews i. xv, Whether a poached egg, or chicken broth. 1889 A. Lang Prince Prigio ii. 10 Why the king..should have poached eggs and plum-cake at afternoon tea. 1940 A. L. Simon Conc. Encycl. Gastron. II. 18/1 Fresh Cod..may be served..with any of the sauces which are suitable for boiled, steamed or poached Turbot. 1978 Chicago June 225/1 For dessert, orange-sparked chocolate mousse, poached pear with brandy and whipped-cream sauce. |
b. poached egg, (a) name of gastropod shells of genus Ovulum; (b) see quot. 1903; (c) Cookery (see quots.); (d) = poached-egg flower s.v. sense c.
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 257/1 Ovulum, (..commonly called Poached Eggs). 1903 Windsor Mag. Sept. 385/2 The ball in a stroke of this kind will assume an oval shape something like a cucumber. This stroke is called in Stické parlance ‘a poached egg’. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 592/1 ‘Poached eggs’ (halved and glazed peaches on rounds of sponge cake, surrounded by a ring of whipped cream). 1959 Listener 24 Dec. 1135/1 ‘Poached eggs’: rounds of sponge cake, covered with a halved tinned apricot with a ribbon of whipped cream piped round the edge. 1971 Guardian 17 Apr. 7/8 The low-growing annual Limnanthes douglasii, known to children as ‘Poached Eggs’..will make a tapestry of lemon and white at the front of a sunny bed. |
c. poached-egg flower, plant, a small annual herb, Limnanthes douglasii, belonging to the family Limnanthaceæ, native to California, and bearing fragrant white and yellow flowers.
| 1963 R. D. Meikle Garden Flowers 135 Poached-egg Flower... The cordate petals are yellow at the base and white at the apex, producing a parti-coloured effect which at once suggests (to the inartistic) the popular name. 1973 Country Life 30 Aug. 565/1 In Britain we call Limnanthes douglasii the poached-egg flower, but in America they use the much more appropriate name of meadow foam. 1977 M. Allan Darwin & his Flowers xv. 261 (caption) Limnanthes douglasii, the ‘Poached Egg Plant’, which Darwin found was self-pollinating. 1978 Woman's Jrnl. Dec. 15/4 Do consider..the poached-egg plant called Limnanthes douglasii, a dwarf annual with ravishing yellow and white flowers. |
▪ II. poached, ppl. a.2
(ˈpəʊtʃd)
[f. poach v.2 + -ed1.]
In senses of the verb: esp. a. Trodden or trampled into miry holes. b. Acquired by poaching; illegally captured.
| 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm II. 110 The cattle will soon render the whole bedding a poached mass. 1883 Jefferies Nature near Lond. 166 This very pond..is muddy enough, and surrounded with poached mud. 1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 13 July 3/2 France..is made the market for English poached fish, and French poached fish find a market in England. 1955 Times 6 June 4/3 The union should..attempt to reach a settlement..of the dispute over ‘poached’ members. |
c. poached eyes = F. yeux pochés, eyes swollen as if with a blow or weeping. [Cf. poach v.2 1 c.]
| 1904 Athenæum 24 Sept. 408/3 Samuel re-entered with poached eyes. |