English

Verb

pick at ‎(third-person singular simple present picks at, present participle picking at, simple past and past participle picked at)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To touch, grab, handle, or pull tentatively or gingerly, using a utensil or one's fingers.
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch. 45:

     Mr Vholes remained immovable, except that he secretly picked at one of the red pimples on his yellow face with his black glove.

   • 1919, Henry B. Fuller, Bertram Cope's Year, ch. 4:

     He began to pick at the fussy fringe on the arm of his chair.

   • 2009 Feb. 28, Laura M. Holson, "Putting a Bolder Face on Google," New York Times (retrieved 3 Aug 2015):

     Picking at a salad in a conference room at Google’s headquarters here, Ms. Mayer says she is vexed by how some perceive her.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To pick on or repeatedly criticize (someone).
   • 1872, Louisa May Alcott, Work: A Story of Experience, ch. 9:

     "[N]oise and disrespect of no kind ain't pleasin' to him. His own folks behave becomin', but strangers go and act as they like. . . . Then we are picked at for their doin's."

   • 1904, Margaret Sidney, Five Little Peppers and their Friends, ch. 15:

     "And I know she's my aunt, but she needn't pick at me all the time," she added defiantly.

   • 2011 Oct. 14, Richard Barber, "Carol McGiffin: I've got a problem in the bedroom... Insomnia!," Daily Mail (UK) (retrieved 3 Aug 2015):

     "I get crabby and pick at him about stupid things that wouldn’t normally bother me."

Synonyms

• (touch, grab, handle, or pull tentatively): fiddle with, toy with
• (pick on): badger, bully, find fault with, harass, pester