1. [N. Amer] Slow or wasting time
   "The pokey student was always the last to finish assignments";
   - dilatory, laggard, poky [N. Amer, informal]
    
2. Small and remote and insignificant
   "a pokey college";
   - jerkwater [US], one-horse

1. A correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
   "The old pokey was converted into a museum";
   - jail, jailhouse, gaol [Brit], clink [informal], slammer [informal], poky [informal], prison, calaboose [US, Austral, informal]

Derived forms: pokeys

See also: provincial, slow

Type of: correctional institution

Encyclopedia: Pokey