pickup
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɪkʌp/
Forms: form: pickups
form: pick-up
form: pick up
Etymology: From pick + up.
Senses: glosses: An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player.
In a record player, an electromagnetic component that converts the needle vibrations into an electrical signal.
synonyms: phono cartridge
glosses: An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player.
Electromagnetic coil receiver of metal string oscillations.
examples: text: This microphone has very weak pickup.
glosses: An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player.
The reception of sound, etc. by such a device.
examples: text: Franklin is beside himself, revving up the engine in the pickup.
ref: 2009, Chinle Miller, Desert Rats: Adventures in the American Outback, page 35:
text: I kept my window rolled up, eyes on the road, probably making the pickup man angrier with my silence.
ref: 2024 June 10, Thomas Lake, “17 years later, I still remember this act of kindness from another driver”, in CNN:
glosses: Ellipsis of pickup truck.
examples: text: Rather than join a basketball league, James decided to play pickup.
text: At lunch we had a game of pickup hockey.
text: Trevor, like an Aussie outbacker, eats snacks and a pickup meal of bread, cantaloupe, olives, mangoes, and melon.
ref: 2010, Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Peter Carey: A Literary Companion, page 100:
glosses: Impromptu or ad hoc, especially of sports games and teams made up of randomly selected players.
examples: text: Hey, thanks for the drink, but if this is a pickup, I'm not interested.
coordinate_terms: pick-up line
pick-up joint
pickup artist
glosses: An instance of approaching someone and engaging in romantic flirtation and courting with the intent to pursue romance, a date, or a sexual encounter.
examples: text: "Good Lord! I'm not stopping you from taking on all the pick-ups that come your way."
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 4:
text: But what about the women who still go to bars — are they completely unaffected by these negative connotations? Hardly. No woman wants to think of herself as being an easy pick-up […]
ref: 1984, Steven Carter, What every man should know about the "new woman": a survival guide:
text: Audball's latest pickup didn't seem to care where they were, or anything at all about alimony, palimony, or child support […]
ref: 2002, James A. Abrahamson, Confessions of a Diplomatic Pouch Clerk, page 192:
glosses: A person successfully approached in this manner for romance or sex.
examples: text: The fourth seed was dominating her 20-year-old opponent with a series of stinging groundstrokes and athletic drive-volleys, striking again in game five when Paszek flicked a forehand pick-up into the tramlines.
ref: 2011 June 28, David Ornstein, “Wimbledon 2011: Victoria Azarenka beats Tamira Paszek in quarters”, in BBC Sport:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: In various games, the fielding or hitting of a ball just after it strikes the ground.
examples: text: Every step of the way you come across absolutely loads of aliens, pick-ups and new and weird obstacles to overcome.
ref: 1991, James Leach, Turrican II (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 69
text: Enter the graveyard if you want pick-ups, otherwise make a left under the archways to progress. When the pathway ends, you'll see two blocked-off tunnels and a switch between them.
ref: 2002, Acclaim Entertainment, Turok Evolution: The official strategy guide, page 73:
topics: video-games
glosses: An item that can be picked up by the player, conferring some benefit or effect; a power-up.
examples: text: The returns from the election show Apple Party candidate Jane Doe has made a pickup in the district of City West defeating Orange Party Incumbent Joe Smith
topics: government
politics
coordinate_terms: gain
glosses: The act of a challenging party or candidate winning an electoral district held by an incumbent party or candidate.
examples: text: That's why the phone at the theater's on automatic pickup.
ref: 2006, Georgina Spelvin, The Devil Made Me Do It, Little Red Hen Books, published 2008, →ISBN, page 224:
glosses: The act of answering a telephone.
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: A relatively minor shot filmed or recorded after the fact to augment previous footage.
examples: text: Owner Philip Schaffart said a precoronavirus Tuesday typically brought in $2,500 in revenue. This past Tuesday, he said, that amount dwindled to $300 as his place was open only for pickup and delivery.
ref: 2020 March 18, Cindy Gonzalez, “Blackstone District starts emergency fund to aid the neighborhood's bar, restaurant servers”, in Omaha World-Herald:
glosses: The act of collecting and taking away something or someone, usually in a vehicle.
examples: text: These signs are friendly reminders for road users to slow down during drop-off and pick-up.
ref: 2021 February 1, Living in Brisbane, Brisbane, page 1:
glosses: A time during which passengers, such as school children, are picked up.
examples: text: The Willys-Overland won't be the fastest car on the road or have the best pickup, but it will have a top speed of eighty miles per hour, and its makers are confident that no car in its class will excel it in economy of fuel and upkeep.
ref: 1946, Henry Robinson Luce, Fortune, volume 34, page 186:
text: The more highly vaporized the mixture your carburetor delivers, the more power you get, which means higher speed, better pickup, smoother idling, more miles per gallon.
ref: 1955, Popular Mechanics, volume 104, number 3, page 70:
glosses: The rate at which a motor vehicle picks up speed.
examples: text: Newsweek gave it a big write-up, as did many trade journals, including, ^([sic]) Editor and Publisher. And our articles get pickup as far west as the Tombstone Epitaph in Arizona.
ref: 1987, Chuck Jordan, Jordan Family Descendents^([sic]), page 302:
text: Back then CPI staff demonstrated a reflexivity common to public relations, reflected for instance in Lewis's acknowledgment of the fact that the novelty factor might lead to more pickup.
ref: 2018, Magda Konieczna, Journalism Without Profit: Making News when the Market Fails, page 189:
glosses: The condition of being picked up, or taken up; adoption by some entity.
Derived terms: 52-card pickup
52 pickup
bind on pickup
humbucking pickup
negative pickup
pickup community
pickup cover
pickup line
pickup rider
TV pickup