Definition of "pick off"

pick off

verb
third-person singular simple present picks off, present participle picking off, simple past and past participle picked off
1. (literally) To remove by picking.
2. To dispose of tasks, obstacles, opponents etc. precisely, one by one.
  Quotations
  Having more chicks together after hatching also makes it less likely her chicks will be the ones picked off by a predator.
  2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic Magazine‎
  1. To shoot one by one.
3. (baseball) To throw out a runner by tagging them whilst they are not in contact with any of the three bases or home plate.
4. To intercept, such as a ball in flight.
  Quotations
  But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.
  2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎
noun
plural pick offs
1. (baseball) An instance of throwing out a batter leading off base.