Definition of "pick"

pick

/pɪk/

noun
plural picks
1. A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
2. (nautical, slang) An anchor.
  Quotations
  It's better to amble around, drop the "pick" for a lunchtime swim or beachcomb, then find a nice anchorage for the night.
  2021 December, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 41, column 2
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. (music) A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
7. (obsolete) A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
  Quotations
  Take down my buckler […] and grind the pick on 't.
  c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid’s Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
8. A choice; ability to choose.
  Quotations
  France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
  1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It?
9. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
10. (Australia) Pasture; feed, for animals.
  Quotations
  ‘She's all African grass and Brahmans. There's not a blade of native pick left, except on the ridges.’
  2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 69
  The judicious use of fire could have protected valuable nut trees, promoted the growth and seeding of grass and, if practised at a distance from their camps, even attracted herbivores to the sweet young pick.
  2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 232
11. (basketball) A screen.
12. (lacrosse) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
13. (American football) An interception.
14. (baseball) A good defensive play by an infielder.
15. (baseball) A pickoff.
16. (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.
  Quotations
  If it be in the smallest degree gritty, it clogs the form, and consequently produces a thick and imperfect impression; no pains should, therefore, be spared to render it perfectly smooth; it may then be made to work as clear and free from picks
  c. 1866, Thomas MacKellar, The American Printer
17. (art, painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
18. (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.
verb
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.
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.
  Quotations
  Did you pick Master Slender's purse?
  c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
  He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems / With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
  1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […]
  He was charged with attempting to pick a pocket, and they found a silver snuff-box on him,--his own, my dear, his own, for he took snuff himself, and was very fond of it.
  1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 43, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […]
  For the pocket in which Erskine kept this key was not the kind of pocket that Watt could pick. For it was no ordinary pocket, no, but a secret one, sewn on to the front of Erskine's underhose.
  1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press
6. To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
7. (transitive) To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.
8. (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.
9. (music) 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.
  Quotations
  The lock was of a kind that Watt could not pick. Watt could pick simple locks, but he could not pick obscure locks.
  1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press
11. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
  Quotations
  Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?
  1693, John Dryden, Third Satire of Persius
12. To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
13. To steal; to pilfer.
  Quotations
  to keep my hands from picking and stealing
  1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […]
14. (obsolete) To throw; to pitch.
  Quotations
  as high as I could pick my lance
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
15. (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.
16. (transitive, intransitive) To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
  Quotations
  Naphtha lamps shed a weird light over a busy scene, for the work was being continued night and day. A score or so of sturdy navvies were shovelling and picking along the track.
  1912, Victor Whitechurch, Thrilling Stories of the Railway
17. (basketball) To screen.
18. (American football, informal) To intercept a pass from the offense as a defensive player.

Definition of "pick"

pick

noun

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