poach

Universal Words verb 1 [VN] to cook food, especially fish, gently in a small amount of liquid: poached salmon 2 [VN] to cook an egg gently in nearly boiling water after removing its shell 3 to illegally hunt birds, animals or fish on sb else's property or without permission: [VN] The elephants are poached for their tusks. [also V] 4 ~ (sb/sth) (from sb/sth) to take and use sb/sth that belongs to sb/sth else, especially in a secret, dishonest or unfair way: [VN] The company poached the contract from their main rivals. * Several of our employees have been poached by a rival firm. * [V] I hope I'm not poaching on your territory (= doing sth that is actually your responsibility).