pooch

• IPA^(key): /puːt͡ʃ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːtʃ

Of uncertain origin. One (unsubstantiated) conjecture is that the word comes from Putzi, a common German name given to lapdogs.^[1] The name Putzi is possibly formed from German Putz + -i, influenced by German putzig (“funny, cute, small”, adjective).

pooch (plural pooches)

1. (slang) A dog.
   • 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 58:

     My thoughts are disturbed by a man and pooch trying to get off the front of the train. Despite hitting the door button, they refused to open.

2. A dog of mixed breed; a mongrel.

• poochie
• screw the pooch

Probably related to pouch.

pooch (countable and uncountable, plural pooches) (informal)

1. (countable) A bulge, an enlarged part.

   There's a pooch in the plastic where it got too hot.

2. A distended or swelled condition.

   Her left sleeve has more pooch at the shoulder than the right.

pooch (third-person singular simple present pooches, present participle pooching, simple past and past participle pooched) (informal)

1. (intransitive) To distend, to swell or extend beyond normal limits; usually used with out.

   Inflate that tire too much and the tube may pooch out of the cut in the sidewall.

   • 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 21, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‎^[1], New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 124:

     There were rustling sounds from the tent and the sides pooched out as if they were trying to stand up.

• pocho