Category:Pick

Pick, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picked; p. pr. & vb. n. Picking.] Etym: [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.] As high as i could pick my lance. Shak.

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 shak. 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.(c) to acquire (an infectious disease); As, to pick up a cold on the airplane. (d) to meet (a person) and Induce to accompany one; as, to pick up a date at the mall. [see Several other defs in mw10]

Pick Pick, v. 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 Pick, n. Etym: [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.

2. (mining & mech.)

Defn: a heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, Wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, -- used 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.

4. Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick. France and russia have the pick of our stables. Ld. Lytton.

5. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick Of the flock.

6. (print.)

Defn: 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)

Defn: that which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct An unevenness in a picture.

8. (weawing)

Defn: 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.