pick

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: choiceselectionpickingcreamwoofweftfillingplectrumplectronpickaxpickaxeoption

WordNet 3.0

Noun (9)

  1. the person or thing chosen or selected“he was my pick for mayor”Synonyms: choiceselection
  2. the quantity of a crop that is harvested“he sent the first picking of berries to the market”“it was the biggest peach pick in years”Synonyms: picking
  3. the best people or things in a group“the cream of England's young men were killed in the Great War”Synonyms: cream
  4. the yarn woven across the warp yarn in weavingSynonyms: woofweftfilling
  5. a small thin device (of metal or plastic or ivory) used to pluck a stringed instrumentSynonyms: plectrumplectron
  6. a thin sharp implement used for removing unwanted material“he used a pick to clean the dirt out of the cracks”
  7. a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends“they used picks and sledges to break the rocks”Synonyms: pickaxpickaxe
  8. a basketball maneuver; obstructing an opponent with one's body“he was called for setting an illegal pick”
  9. the act of choosing or selecting“your choice of colors was unfortunate”“you can take your pick”Synonyms: choiceselectionoption

Verb (12)

  1. select carefully from a group“She finally picked her successor”“He picked his way carefully”
  2. look for and gather“pick mushrooms”“pick flowers”Synonyms: pluckcull
  3. harass with constant criticism“Don't always pick on your little brother”Synonyms: blamefind fault
  4. provoke“pick a fight or a quarrel”
  5. remove in small bits“pick meat from a bone”
  6. remove unwanted substances from, such as feathers or pits“Clean the turkey”Synonyms: clean
  7. pilfer or rob“pick pockets”
  8. pay for something“pick up the tab”“pick up the burden of high-interest mortgages”“foot the bill”Synonyms: foot
  9. pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion“he plucked the strings of his mandolin”Synonyms: pluckplunk
  10. attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example“Pick open the ice”Synonyms: break up
  11. hit lightly with a picking motionSynonyms: peckbeak
  12. eat intermittently; take small bites of“He pieced at the sandwich all morning”“She never eats a full meal--she just nibbles”Synonyms: nibblepiece
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Pick \Pick\ (p[i^]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picked (p[i^]kt); 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, v., Pike, Pitch to throw.]

1.To throw; to pitch. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

As high as I could pick my lance.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

3.To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc. [1913 Webster]

4.To open (a lock) as by a wire. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

Did you pick Master Slender's purse?— Shak.[1913 Webster]
He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.— Cowper.[1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

9.To trim. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

Pick \Pick\, v. i.

1.To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble. [1913 Webster]

Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

2.To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care. [1913 Webster]

3.To steal; to pilfer. "To keep my hands from picking and stealing." --Book of Com. Prayer. [1913 Webster]

To pick up, to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. [Colloq. U.S.] [1913 Webster]

Pick \Pick\, n. [F. pic a pickax, a pick. See Pick, and cf. Pike.]

1.A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

4.Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick; in cat breeding, the owner of a stud gets the pick of the litter. [1913 Webster +PJC]

France and Russia have the pick of our stables.— Ld. Lytton.[1913 Webster]

5.Hence: That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick of the flock. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

7.(Painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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