Word: pickup Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From pick + up. Pronunciation: /ˈpɪkʌp/ 1. An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player. Labels: countable, uncountable 2. An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player. Labels: countable, uncountable 3. An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: This microphone has very weak pickup. 4. Ellipsis of pickup truck. Labels: Canada, US, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Example: Franklin is beside himself, revving up the engine in the pickup. Example: I kept my window rolled up, eyes on the road, probably making the pickup man angrier with my silence. 5. Impromptu or ad hoc, especially of sports games and teams made up of randomly selected players. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable, usually Example: Rather than join a basketball league, James decided to play pickup. Example: At lunch we had a game of pickup hockey. 6. An instance of approaching someone and engaging in romantic flirtation and courting with the intent to pursue romance, a date, or a sexual encounter. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Hey, thanks for the drink, but if this is a pickup, I'm not interested. 7. A person successfully approached in this manner for romance or sex. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: "Good Lord! I'm not stopping you from taking on all the pick-ups that come your way." Example: 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 […] 8. In various games, the fielding or hitting of a ball just after it strikes the ground. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 9. An item that can be picked up by the player, conferring some benefit or effect; a power-up. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Every step of the way you come across absolutely loads of aliens, pick-ups and new and weird obstacles to overcome. Example: 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. 10. The act of a challenging party or candidate winning an electoral district held by an incumbent party or candidate. Labels: Canada, US, countable, uncountable Example: 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 11. The act of answering a telephone. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: That's why the phone at the theater's on automatic pickup. 12. A relatively minor shot filmed or recorded after the fact to augment previous footage. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. The act of collecting and taking away something or someone, usually in a vehicle. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A computer voice tells her that she is supposed to make a pickup in Griffith Park and deliver it to a Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates franchise in Van Nuys. Example: 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. 14. A time during which passengers, such as school children, are picked up. Labels: uncountable Example: These signs are friendly reminders for road users to slow down during drop-off and pick-up. 15. The rate at which a motor vehicle picks up speed. Labels: uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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. 16. The condition of being picked up, or taken up; adoption by some entity. Labels: uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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.