cherry-pick
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: broadcasting
computing
engineering
hobbies
human-sciences
lifestyle
logic
mathematics
media
natural-sciences
philosophy
physical-sciences
sciences
software
sports
Etymology: A metaphor, from the idea of picking through a bowl of cherries and seeking the best for oneself, or the idea of picking off the cherries for oneself from a cake or dessert.
Inflected forms:
form: cherry-picks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: cherry-picking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: cherry-picked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: cherry-picked
pos: verb
tags: past
form: cherry pick
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: cherrypick
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To pick out the best or most desirable items from a list or group, especially to obtain some advantage or to present something in the best possible light.
pos: verb
tags: idiomatic
examples: Screeners can help you cherry-pick a promising group of stocks that meet your exact specifications.
"We're not offering you a chance to cherry-pick the Caerphilly Zoo to fill in the gaps in your own collection.
In time The Simpsons would, indeed, resort to spoofing such decidedly non-spooktacular fare like E.T and Mr. And Mrs. Smith (both in “Treehouse Of Horror XVIII”) but in 1992 the field was wide-open and the show could cherry-pick the most iconic and beloved fright fare of all time.
The situation became more acute as road competition began to grow during the 1930s. A national road network was built, and road hauliers could cherry-pick the most profitable movements.
gloss: To select only evidence which supports an argument, and reject or ignore contradictory evidence.
pos: verb
tags: broadly
rhetoric
examples: From all the available statistics, the politician cherry-picked only those that backed up his ideas.
The reason for this concentration is to attempt to alleviate the problems of fragmentation which usually accompany the study of retailing, particularly at the end of the early period, and has so often happened in the past, to curtail the temptation to 'cherry-pick' the best evidence from a wide, but not necessarily related, area.
2001, Ian St. John in sci.environment
You are *asking* for a specific *subset* of the data to *prove* a specific theory. That is 'cherry picking'. It is no more valid to 'cherry pick' data to disprove global warming than it is to 'cherry pick' data to prove it. That is *science*. You *must* deal with the entire data set. What part of this is not clear?
Yes, I do think in principle it is a good idea to have clearing houses where data is assessed and has as objective an account as possible given of the data because of the tendency of all organisations to cherry-pick those studies which may support a pre-existing position.
So it's possible to 'cherry pick' only the evidence that supports a position and ignore the rest. To the reader who does not know about the rest of the evidence, it may seem like a strong case. The whole body of evidence must be considered.
gloss: To position oneself near the opponent's goal to attempt to receive an errant or intentional pass for an easy score, as in basketball or versions of soccer where offsides are not enforced.
pos: verb
tags: US
idiomatic
gloss: To broadcast selected programming from another network.
pos: verb
tags: US
idiomatic
examples: Those stations that will send CNN tapes of their local and regional news for CNN to cherry-pick from, in turn will be allowed to cherry-pick themselves.
gloss: In source control, to commit selected changes from one branch to another.
pos: verb
Related words: cherry picker
contextomy
low-hanging fruit
Translations: