Phrase guide

poke borax

verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To ridicule.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, New-Zealand, intransitive, often

Examples

  • 1975, New Zealand House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 3399, Hon. S. J. Faulkner—You see, as long as the people concerned are not political, it is O.K. But members opposite want to poke borax at people who dare to have a different view from that of the Leader of the Opposition.
  • 1991, Maud Cahill, Christine Dann (editors), Changing Our Lives: Women Working in the Women′s Liberation Movement, 1970-1990, Bridget Williams Books, New Zealand, page 74, It was an acceptable way of poking borax at unions for being so bloody backward.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From poke borak or poke borack, probably by substitution of the unfamiliar word, by the law of Hobson-Jobson.