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Webster 1913 Edition

Pick

Pick

(pĭk)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Picked
(pĭkt)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Picking
.]
[OE.
picken
,
pikken
, to prick, peck; akin to Icel.
pikka
, Sw.
picka
, Dan.
pikke
, D.
pikken
, G.
picken
, F.
piquer
, W.
pigo
. Cf.
Peck
,
Verb.
,
Pike
,
Pitch
to throw.]
1.
To throw; to pitch.
[Obs.]
As high as I could
pick
my lance.
Shakespeare
2.
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.
3.
To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points;
as, to
pick
matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
4.
To open (a lock) as by a wire.
5.
To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck; to gather, as fruit from a tree, flowers from the stalk, feathers from a fowl, etc.
6.
To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth;
as, to
pick
the teeth; to
pick
a bone; to
pick
a goose; to
pick
a pocket.
Did you
pick
Master Slender’s purse?
Shakespeare
He
picks
clean teeth, and, busy as he seems
With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
Cowper.
7.
To choose; to select; to separate as choice or desirable; to cull;
as, to
pick
one's company; to
pick
one's way
; – often with out.
“One man picked out of ten thousand.”
Shak.
8.
To take up; esp., to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together;
as, to
pick
rags
; – often with up;
as, to
pick
up a ball or stones; to
pick
up information.
9.
To trim.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
To pick at
,
to tease or vex by pertinacious annoyance.
–
To pick a bone with
.
See under
Bone
.
–
To pick a thank
,
to curry favor.
[Obs.]
Robynson (More's Utopia).
–
To pick off
.
(a)
To pluck; to remove by picking
.
(b)
To shoot or bring down, one by one;
as, sharpshooters
pick off
the enemy
.
–
To pick out
.
(a)
To mark out; to variegate;
as,
to pick out
any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors
.
(b)
To select from a number or quantity.
–
To pick to pieces
,
to pull apart piece by piece; hence
[Colloq.]
, to analyze; esp., to criticize in detail.
–
To pick a quarrel
,
to give occasion of quarrel intentionally.
–
To pick up
.
(a)
To take up, as with the fingers
.
(b)
To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there;
as,
to pick up
a livelihood;
to pick up
news
.

Pick

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
Why stand'st thou
picking
? Is thy palate sore?
Dryden.
2.
To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
3.
To steal; to pilfer.
“To keep my hands from picking and stealing.”
Book of Com. Prayer.
To pick up
,
to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business.
[Colloq. U.S.]

Pick

,
Noun.
[F.
pic
a pickax, a pick. See
Pick
, and cf.
Pike
.]
1.
A sharp-pointed tool for picking; – often used in composition;
as, a tooth
pick
; a
pick
lock.
2.
(Mining & Mech.)
A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, – used for digging ino the ground by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
3.
A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
[Obs.]
“Take down my buckler . . . and grind the pick on 't.”
Beau. & Fl.
France and Russia have the
pick
of our stables.
Ld. Lytton.
5.
Hence:
That which would be picked or chosen first; the best;
as, the
pick
of the flock
.
6.
(Print.)
A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet.
MacKellar.
7.
(Painting)
That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
8.
(Weaving)
The blow which drives the shuttle, – the rate of speed of a loom being reckoned as so many
picks
per minute;
hence,
in describing the fineness of a fabric
,
a weft thread;
as, so many
picks
to an inch
.
Pick dressing
(Arch.)
,
in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions.
–
Pick hammer
,
a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.
A woman stooping to take a child
pickaback
.
R,Jefferies.

Webster 1828 Edition

Pick

PICK

,
Verb.
T.
[L. pecto.]
1.
To pull off or pluck with the fingers something that grows or adheres to another thing; to separate by the hand, as fruit from trees; as, to pick apples or oranges; to pick strawberries.
2.
To pull off or separate with the teeth, beak or claws; as, to pick flesh from a bone; hence,
3.
To clean by the teeth, fingers or claws, or by a small instrument, by separating something that adheres; as, to pick a bone; to pick the ears.
4.
To take up; to cause or seek industriously; as, to pick a quarrel.
5.
To separate or pull asunder; to pull into small parcels by the fingers; to separate locks for loosening and cleaning; as, to pick wool.
6.
To pierce; to strike with a pointed instrument; as, to pick an apple with a pin.
7.
To strike with the bill or beak; to puncture. In this sense, we generally use peck.
8.
To steal by taking out with the fingers or hands; as, to pick the pocket.
9.
To open by a pointed instrument; as, to pick a lock.
10. To select; to cull; to separate particular things from others; as, to pick the best men from a company. In this sense,the word is often followed by out.
To pick off, to separate by the fingers or by a small pointed instrument.
pick out, to select; to separate individuals from numbers.
To pick up, to take up with the fingers or beak; also, to take particular things here and there; to gather; to glean.
To pick a hole in one's coat, to find fault.

PICK

,
Verb.
I.
To eat slowly or by morsels; to nibble.
1.
To do any thing nicely or by attending to small things.

PICK

,
Noun.
A sharp pointed tool for digging or removing in small quantities.
What the miners call chert and whern--is so hard that the picks will not touch it.
1.
Choice; right of selection. You may have your pick.
2.
Among printers, foul matter which collects on printing types from the balls, bad ink, or from the paper impressed.

Definition 2024

pick

pick

English

A pick (pickaxe)

Noun

pick ‎(plural picks)

  1. A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
  2. A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
  3. A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
  4. A choice; ability to choose.
    • Lord Lytton
      France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
  5. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
  6. (basketball) A screen.
  7. (lacrosse) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
  8. (American football) An interception.
  9. (baseball) A good defensive play by an infielder.
  10. (baseball) A pickoff.
  11. (music) A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
  12. A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
  13. (obsolete) A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
    • Beaumont and Fletcher
      Take down my buckler […] and grind the pick on 't.
  14. (printing, dated) A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of MacKellar to this entry?)
  15. (art, painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
  16. (weaving) The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.
    so many picks to an inch

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
    Don't pick at that scab.
    He picked his nose.
  2. 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.
    It's time to pick the tomatoes.
  3. To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
    She picked flowers in the meadow.
    to pick feathers from a fowl
  4. To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
    to pick rags
  5. To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
    to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket
    • Shakespeare
      Did you pick Master Slender's purse?
    • Cowper
      He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems / With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
  6. To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
    I'll pick the one with the nicest name.
    Seek an opportunity to quarrel or argue with someone.
  7. (cricket) 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.
    He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.
  8. (music) To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
    He picked a tune on his banjo.
  9. To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
  10. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
    • Dryden
      Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?
  11. To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
  12. To steal; to pilfer.
    • Book of Common Prayer
      to keep my hands from picking and stealing
  13. (obsolete) To throw; to pitch.
    • Shakespeare
      as high as I could pick my lance
  14. (dated) 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.
  15. To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
    to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɪk/
  • Rhymes: -ɪk

Verb

pick

  1. Imperative singular of picken.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of picken.

Etymology

From Middle English picken, pikken, from Old English *pician, *pīcian (attested in pīcung ‎(“a pricking”)), and pȳcan ‎(“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-Germanic *pikōną, *pūkijaną ‎(“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- ‎(“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Cognate with Dutch pikken ‎(“to pick”), German picken ‎(“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka ( > Icelandic pikka ‎(“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka ‎(“to pick, peck”)).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /pɪk/, [pʰɪk]
  • Rhymes: -ɪk
  • Homophone: pic

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