Pronunciations (3)
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/pɪk/
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[pʰɪk]
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pɪk
Noun
A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
An anchor.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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It's better to amble around, drop the "pick" for a lunchtime swim or beachcomb, then find a nice anchorage for the night.
A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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Take down my buckler […] and grind the pick on 't.
A choice; ability to choose.
- Examples
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France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
Pasture; feed, for animals.
Usage- Australia
- Examples
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‘She's all African grass and Brahmans. There's not a blade of native pick left, except on the ridges.’
More examples (1)
The judicious use of fire could have protected valuable nut trees, promoted the growth and seeding of grass and, if practised at a distance from their camps, even attracted herbivores to the sweet young pick.
A screen.
An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
An interception.
A good defensive play by an infielder.
A pickoff.
A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
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More examples (1)
If it be in the smallest degree gritty, it clogs the form, and consequently produces a thick and imperfect impression; no pains should, therefore, be spared to render it perfectly smooth; it may then be made to work as clear and free from picks
That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.
- Examples
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so many picks to an inch
More examples (1)
Leaving a tail 2 yd long for hemstitching, weave 3 picks of plain weave and use the tail to hemstitch in groups of 8 warp ends. Weave 3 more picks of plain weave, then begin the pattern treadling following the draft in Figure 2, beginning with the border.
Verb
To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
- Examples
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Don't pick at that scab.
He picked his nose.
To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.
- Examples
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It's time to pick the tomatoes.
To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
- Examples
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She picked flowers in the meadow.
to pick feathers from a fowl
To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
- Examples
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to pick rags
To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
- Examples
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to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket
Did you pick Master Slender's purse?
More examples (3)
He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems / With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
He was charged with attempting to pick a pocket, and they found a silver snuff-box on him,--his own, my dear, his own, for he took snuff himself, and was very fond of it.
For the pocket in which Erskine kept this key was not the kind of pocket that Watt could pick. For it was no ordinary pocket, no, but a secret one, sewn on to the front of Erskine's underhose.
To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
- Examples
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I'll pick the one with the nicest name.
She had to pick her steps to avoid the flutters of the quivering, bleeding bodies.
To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.
Usage- Transitive
To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released.
- Examples
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He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.
To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
- Examples
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He picked a tune on his banjo.
To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
- Examples
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The lock was of a kind that Watt could not pick. Watt could pick simple locks, but he could not pick obscure locks.
To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
- Examples
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Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?
To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
- Examples
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I gingerly picked my way between the thorny shrubs.
To steal; to pilfer.
- Examples
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to keep my hands from picking and stealing
To throw; to pitch.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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as high as I could pick my lance
To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.
Usage- Dated
- Transitive
To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Examples
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to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
More examples (1)
Naphtha lamps shed a weird light over a busy scene, for the work was being continued night and day. A score or so of sturdy navvies were shovelling and picking along the track.
To screen.
To intercept a pass from the offense as a defensive player.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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The pass was almost picked, but the tight end was able to hold on.
Noun
the person or thing chosen or selected
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he was my pick for mayor
the quantity of a crop that is harvested
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he sent the first picking of berries to the market
it was the biggest peach pick in years
the best people or things in a group
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the cream of England's young men were killed in the Great War
the yarn woven across the warp yarn in weaving
a small thin device (of metal or plastic or ivory) used to pluck a stringed instrument
- Broader terms
a thin sharp implement used for removing unwanted material
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he used a pick to clean the dirt out of the cracks
a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends
- Broader terms
- Examples
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they used picks and sledges to break the rocks
a basketball maneuver; obstructing an opponent with one's body
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he was called for setting an illegal pick
the act of choosing or selecting
- Broader terms
- Examples
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your choice of colors was unfortunate
you can take your pick
Verb
select carefully from a group
- Examples
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She finally picked her successor
He picked his way carefully
look for and gather
- Broader terms
- Examples
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pick mushrooms
pick flowers
harass with constant criticism
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Don't always pick on your little brother
provoke
- Broader terms
- Examples
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pick a fight or a quarrel
remove in small bits
- Examples
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pick meat from a bone
remove unwanted substances from, such as feathers or pits
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Clean the turkey
pilfer or rob
- Broader terms
- Examples
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pick pockets
pay for something
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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pick up the tab
pick up the burden of high-interest mortgages
More examples (1)
foot the bill
pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion
- Examples
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he plucked the strings of his mandolin
attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Pick open the ice
hit lightly with a picking motion
- Broader terms
eat intermittently; take small bites of
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He pieced at the sandwich all morning
She never eats a full meal — she just nibbles