pick
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɪk/
ipa: [pʰɪk]
homophone: pic
rhymes: -ɪk
Forms: form: picks
form: picking
form: picked
form: picked
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: pick
form: pick
form: picked
form: pick
form: pickest
form: picked
form: pickedst
form: picks
form: picketh
form: picked
form: pick
form: picked
form: pick
form: picked
form: pick
form: -
form: picking
form: picked
Etymology: From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck.
Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)).
Senses: examples: text: Don't pick at that scab.
text: He picked his nose.
glosses: To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
examples: text: It's time to pick the tomatoes.
glosses: 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: text: She picked flowers in the meadow.
text: to pick feathers from a fowl
glosses: To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
examples: text: to pick rags
glosses: To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
examples: text: to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket
text: Did you pick Master Slender's purse?
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems / With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
ref: 1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 43, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
glosses: To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
examples: text: I'll pick the one with the nicest name.
glosses: To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
glosses: To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.
examples: text: He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: 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: text: He picked a tune on his banjo.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
examples: text: The lock was of a kind that Watt could not pick. Watt could pick simple locks, but he could not pick obscure locks.
ref: 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
glosses: To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
examples: text: Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?
ref: 1693, John Dryden, Third Satire of Persius:
glosses: To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
examples: text: I gingerly picked my way between the thorny shrubs.
glosses: To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
examples: text: to keep my hands from picking and stealing
ref: 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:
glosses: To steal; to pilfer.
examples: text: as high as I could pick my lance
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
synonyms: word: fling
word: hurl
word: bung
word: cast
word: chuck
word: chunk
word: cook
word: dash
word: dump
word: feck
word: fling
word: jerk
word: heave
word: hield
word: hoy
word: huck
word: hurl
word: hurtle
word: launch
word: lob
word: peck
word: peg
word: pick
word: pitch
word: precipitate
word: project
word: quoit
word: shy
word: slight
word: skew
word: sling
word: thrill
word: throw
word: toss
word: traject
word: warp
word: whang
word: whip
word: whop
word: wing
glosses: To throw; to pitch.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
text: 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.
ref: 1912, Victor Whitechurch, Thrilling Stories of the Railway:
glosses: To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
topics: ball-games
basketball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To screen.
examples: text: The pass was almost picked, but the tight end was able to hold on.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To intercept a pass from the offense as a defensive player.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: a bone to pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: autopick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: bone to pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: cherry-pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: crow to pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: downpick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: e-pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: fingerpick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: hand-picked
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: hand-pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: handpick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: have a bone to pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: know how to pick 'em
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: mispick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: nitpick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: nose-pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: nose-picking
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: nutpick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: outpick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pickability
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pickable
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick a fight
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick a hole in someone's coat
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick a lane
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick and choose
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick and pack
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick and pass
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick and place
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick and pop
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick and roll
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-and-sort
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick apart
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick a quarrel
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick at
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-at-will
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick away at
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick bids off the wall
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-by-order
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-by-vision
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-by-voice
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pickcheese
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick corners
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick 'em
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: picker
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-fault
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick fault
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pickfest
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick flowers
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick from a hat
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick gooseberry
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick holes
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pickin' and grinnin'
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-me
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-me boy
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-me girl
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick 'n' mix
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick oakum
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick off
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick on
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick one's battles
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick one's nose
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick one's way
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick out
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick out of a hat
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick over
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pickpocket
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-quarrel
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick sides
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick somebody's brain
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick someone's brain
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick someone's brains
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick the wrong horse
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick through
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-belt
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-box
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-cart
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-carton
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-light
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-order
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-tote
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-to-voice
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick up
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick up on
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: picky
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick-your-own
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: pick your poison
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: ripe for the picking
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: sort-while-pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: U-pick
sense: Terms derived from the pick (verb)
word: you-pick
Related terms: mattock