poker up

English

Verb

poker up (third-person singular simple present pokers up, present participle pokering up, simple past and past participle pokered up)

1. To become expressionless; to put on a poker face.
   • 1984, Sheila Walsh, The Diamond Waterfall, page 153:

     When his mama had ventured in the most amiable way to remark on her occasional free and easy ways, he had pokered up at once and declared that it was her very lack of pretension which he found most engaging.

   • 1992, Joan Overfield, The Viscount's Vixen, page 10:

     Wicked as the devil one minute, and then pokering up like a Methodist minister the next.

   • 2004, Lori Foster, When Bruce Met Cyn:

     After nearly choking, Joe cocked a brow over the edge of his coffee cup. “Me?” He pokered up in affront. “I haven't done a damn thing.”

   • 2006, Terry McLaughlin, Make-believe Cowboy, page 164:

     He shut the door behind him and leaned back against it, his face pokering up in that relentlessly neutral expression she recognized as his personal take on stubborn .

   • 2014, Colleen McCullough, Bittersweet, page 366:

     Oh, no, pokering up won't wash with me! Formality is simply another fence to cower behind.

   • 2014, Jeanne Allan, One Husband Needed:

     She pokered up indignantly. He could almost feel the electricity as she searched for a response to his compliment which would put him in his place.