Pocketing
Etymology
A dating term built on the image of keeping someone tucked away in your pocket, out of sight. It emerged in relationship-advice writing in the late 2010s alongside a wave of named dating behaviors; no single coiner is documented.
noun · /POK-it-ing/
Keeping a romantic partner hidden from your friends and family, as if in your pocket.
What it names
It names the quiet exclusion of a partner from the rest of your life — never introduced, never posted, kept separate. It often signals reluctance to fully commit or to be seen as attached.
Example
Six months in and I’ve never met a single friend of his — I think I’m being pocketed.
Related idea
The opposite of a hard launch (publicly confirming a relationship); pocketing keeps it deliberately invisible.