out-of-pocket

[ out-uh v-pok-it ]
/ ˈaʊt əvˈpɒk ɪt /

adjective

paid out in cash or from one's own financial resources and sometimes reimbursed: My out-of-pocket travel expenses included taking business clients to dinner.
without funds or assets: an out-of-pocket student who stayed with us.

Origin of out-of-pocket

First recorded in 1880–85

Definition for out of pocket (2 of 2)

pocket
[ pok-it ]
/ ˈpɒk ɪt /

noun

adjective

small enough or suitable for carrying in the pocket: a pocket watch.
relatively small; smaller than usual: a pocket war; a pocket country.

verb (used with object)

Origin of pocket

1250–1300; Middle English poket < Old North French (Picard) poquet (Old French pochet, pochette), diminutive of poque < Middle Dutch poke poke2; see -et

OTHER WORDS FROM pocket

pock·et·less, adjective pock·et·like, adjective un·pock·et, verb (used with object)

British Dictionary definitions for out of pocket (1 of 2)

out of pocket

adjective (out-of-pocket when prenominal)

(postpositive) having lost money, as in a commercial enterprise
without money to spend
(prenominal) (of expenses) unbudgeted and paid for in cash

British Dictionary definitions for out of pocket (2 of 2)

pocket
/ (ˈpɒkɪt) /

noun

verb -ets, -eting or -eted (tr)

Derived forms of pocket

pocketable, adjective pocketless, adjective

Word Origin for pocket

C15: from Anglo-Norman poket a little bag, from poque bag, from Middle Dutch poke poke ², bag; related to French poche pocket

Medical definitions for out of pocket

pocket
[ pŏkĭt ]

n.

In anatomy, a cul-de-sac or pouchlike cavity.
A diseased space between the inflamed gum and the surface of a tooth.
A collection of pus in a nearly closed sac.

v.

To enclose within a confined space.
To approach the surface at a localized spot, as with the thinned-out wall of an abscess which is about to rupture.

Idioms and Phrases with out of pocket (1 of 2)

out of pocket

1

Lacking money; also, having suffered a financial loss, as in We can't go; I'm out of pocket right now. William Congreve had it in The Old Bachelor (1693): “But egad, I'm a little out of pocket at present.” [Late 1600s]

2

Referring to actual money spent, as in I had to pay the hotel bill out of pocket, but I know I'll be reimbursed. This expression sometimes occurs as a hyphenated adjective mainly in the phrase out-of-pocket expenses, as in My out-of-pocket expenses for business travel amounted to more than a thousand dollars. [Late 1800s]

Idioms and Phrases with out of pocket (2 of 2)

pocket