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Pick   /pɪk/   Listen
verb
Pick  v. t.  (past & past part. picked; pres. part. picking)  
1.
To throw; to pitch. (Obs.) "As high as I could pick my lance."
2.
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.
3.
To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
4.
To open (a lock) as by a wire.
5.
To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck; to gather, as fruit from a tree, flowers from the stalk, feathers from a fowl, etc.
6.
To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth; as, to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket. "Did you pick Master Slender's purse?" "He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet."
7.
To choose; to select; to separate as choice or desirable; to cull; as, to pick one's company; to pick one's way; often with out. "One man picked out of ten thousand."
8.
To take up; esp., to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together; as, to pick rags; often with up; as, to pick up a ball or stones; to pick up information.
9.
To trim. (Obs.)
To pick at, to tease or vex by pertinacious annoyance.
To pick a bone with. See under Bone.
To pick a thank, to curry favor. (Obs.)
To pick off.
(a)
To pluck; to remove by picking.
(b)
To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy.
To pick out.
(a)
To mark out; to variegate; as, to pick out any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors.
(b)
To select from a number or quantity.
To pick to pieces, to pull apart piece by piece; hence (Colloq.), to analyze; esp., to criticize in detail.
To pick a quarrel, to give occasion of quarrel intentionally.
To pick up.
(a)
To take up, as with the fingers.
(b)
To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news.


Pick  v. i.  
1.
To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble. "Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?"
2.
To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
3.
To steal; to pilfer. "To keep my hands from picking and stealing."
To pick up, to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. (Colloq. U.S.)


noun
Pick  n.  
1.
A sharp-pointed tool for picking; often used in composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.
2.
(Mining & Mech.) A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, used for digging ino the ground by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
3.
A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler. (Obs.) "Take down my buckler... and grind the pick on 't."
4.
Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick; in cat breeding, the owner of a stud gets the pick of the litter. "France and Russia have the pick of our stables."
5.
Hence: That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick of the flock.
6.
(Print.) A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet.
7.
(Painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
8.
(Weaving) The blow which drives the shuttle, the rate of speed of a loom being reckoned as so many picks per minute; hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, A weft thread; as, so many picks to an inch.
Pick dressing (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions.
Pick hammer, a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pick" Quotes from Famous Books



... as close to the wind as possible. The weather was clear, and at 8 o'clock we sighted the mainland, with Dickson's Island ahead. It had been our intention to run in and anchor here, in order to put letters for home under a cairn, Captain Wiggins having promised to pick them up on his way to the Yenisei. But in the meantime the wind had fallen: it was a favorable chance, and time was precious. So we gave up sending our post, and continued ...
— Farthest North - Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896 • Fridtjof Nansen
... pick up the papers in connection with Stener's case, satisfied that he had given the financiers no chance to say he had not given due heed to their plea in Cowperwood's behalf and yet certain that the politicians would be pleased that he had ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser
... casts beyond the moon, and Churms is the only man he puts in trust with his daughter; and, I'll warrant, the old churl would take it upon his salvation that he will persuade her to marry Peter Plod-all. But I will make a fool of Peter Plod-all; I'll look him in the face, and pick his purse, whilst Churms cosen him of his wench, and my old grandsire Holdfast of his daughter: and if he can do so, I'll teach him a trick to cosen him of his gold too. Now, for Sophos, let him wear the willow garland, and play the melancholy malcontent, and pluck his hat down ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. IX • Various
... an old acquaintance, just as you can often recognize a boy friend by his walk or the sound of his voice, without seeing his face. And what a new joy in life there is for anybody that really knows the birds about him. He can pick from the medley of bird songs the notes of the individual singers; he knows when to look for old friends of the year before; no countryside is ever lonely for him, for he finds birds everywhere and knows that any moment ...
— Boy Scouts Handbook - The First Edition, 1911 • Boy Scouts of America
... groan about. Mrs. Kump was lamenting that she couldn't go out to pick any berries this year and so will miss her jam. Let's go blackberrying to-morrow morning, if the boys will go along; we can get home before noon and I'll make her a jar ...
— Peggy-Alone • Mary Agnes Byrne


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