Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Pick?

\Pick\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Picked}; 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.] 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.
\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\, 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. 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 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.) 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) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture. 8. (Weawing) 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.