To act in such a way that has a good, but not definite chance, of causing
trouble. (You can poke a bear once and maybe
get away with it, but if you keep poking him, he's going to get
really angry.) To stir things up.
"I figure all I have to do is keep hacking that big guy when we play ball
with him and
eventually, he'll stop driving the lane."
"Dude, I think you're poking the bear on that one...
you better watch out."