English Explanatory Dictionary

pick

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
  2. An anchor.
  3. A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
  4. A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
  5. A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
  6. A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
  7. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
  8. A choice; ability to choose.
  9. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
  10. Pasture; feed, for animals.
  11. A screen.
  12. An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
verb
  1. To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
  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.
  3. To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
  4. To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
  5. To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
  6. To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
  7. To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.
  8. 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.
  9. To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
  10. To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
  11. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
  12. To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/pɪk/ [pʰɪk] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-pick.wav en-us-pick.ogg en-au-pick.ogg

Word forms

pick picks picking picked no-table-tags glossary pickest pickedst picketh

Etymology

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck. Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull away, extract”).

Synonyms

fling hurl bung cast chuck chunk cook dash dump feck jerk heave hield hoy huck hurtle launch lob peck peg pick pitch precipitate project quoit shy slight skew sling thrill throw toss traject warp whang whip whop wing

Related words

mattock

Derived words

Afro pick antipick captain's pick downpick earpick fingerpick first pick floss pick guitar pick have one's pick hoof pick lock pick mill pick mispick nutpick pickaxe pick dressing pickguard pick gun pick hammer pickle picklist pickman pick of the crop pick of the litter pick packer picks and shovels pick scrape pick six pick slide picksman pick stitch sandwich pick sleeper pick take one's pick thumbpick toe pick toothpick tramp-pick water pick worm pick a bone to pick autopick bone to pick cherry-pick crow to pick e-pick hand-picked hand-pick handpick have a bone to pick know how to pick 'em nitpick nose-pick nose-picking outpick pickability pickable pick a fight pick a hole in someone's coat

Translations

Spanish: puya
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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