Definition

1. Noun:

   • A pustule or small, pus-filled blister characteristic of certain eruptive diseases, especially smallpox: A "pock" is a specific type of skin lesion.
   • The mark or scar left by such a pustule after it heals: It can also refer to the permanent indentation or pit remaining on the skin.

2. Verb:

   • To mark or scar with pits or indentations: The action of causing a surface, especially skin, to become marked with small hollows or scars.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The patient's face was covered with pocks from the illness.
  • Even after recovery, the deep pocks on his skin were still visible.

• Verb:

  • The severe acne pocked his cheeks.
  • The surface of the old table was pocked by years of wear and insect damage.

Advanced Usage

• "Pockmarked" (Adjective): Describing a surface, especially skin, that is covered with many small pits or scars.
  • The pockmarked wall told the story of the building's long history.
  • His pockmarked complexion was a result of childhood chickenpox.

Variants and Related Words

• Pockmark (Noun): A pit or scar on the skin, typically one left by a pustule. Often used interchangeably with "pock" as a noun for the scar.
  • The moon's surface is covered in pockmarks from meteor impacts.
• Pockmarked (Adjective): As described above.
• Poxy (Adjective, informal): Of poor quality; worthless. This is a figurative extension from diseases like smallpox (historically called "the pox").

Synonyms

• Noun (for the lesion): Pustule, vesicle, blister.
• Noun (for the scar): Pit, indentation, scar, pockmark.
• Verb: Pit, scar, mark, dent.

Related Phrases

• "Pocked with": A phrase describing a surface that has many of something, often problems or features, like pits.
  • The report was pocked with errors.
  • The landscape was pocked with small craters.

Noun

1. a pustule in an eruptive disease

Verb

1. mark with a scar
   • The skin disease scarred his face permanently