King James Bible Dictionary

PICK, verb transitive [Latin pecto.]

1. To pull off or pluck with the fingers something that grows or adheres to another thing; to separate by the hand, as fruit from trees; as, to pick apples or oranges; to pick strawberries.

2. To pull off or separate with the teeth, beak or claws; as, to pick flesh from a bone; hence,

3. To clean by the teeth, fingers or claws, or by a small instrument, by separating something that adheres; as, to pick a bone; to pick the ears.

4. To take up; to cause or seek industriously; as, to pick a quarrel.

5. To separate or pull asunder; to pull into small parcels by the fingers; to separate locks for loosening and cleaning; as, to pick wool.

6. To pierce; to strike with a pointed instrument; as, to pick an apple with a pin.

7. To strike with the bill or beak; to puncture. In this sense, we generally use peck.

8. To steal by taking out with the fingers or hands; as, to pick the pocket.

9. To open by a pointed instrument; as, to pick a lock.

10. To select; to cull; to separate particular things from others; as, to pick the best men from a company. In this sense, the word is often followed by out.

To pick off, to separate by the fingers or by a small pointed instrument.

PICK out, to select; to separate individuals from numbers.

To pick up, to take up with the fingers or beak; also, to take particular things here and there; to gather; to glean.

To pick a hole in one's coat, to find fault.

PICK, verb intransitive To eat slowly or by morsels; to nibble.

1. To do any thing nicely or by attending to small things.

PICK, noun A sharp pointed tool for digging or removing in small quantities.

What the miners call chert and whern--is so hard that the picks will not touch it.

1. Choice; right of selection. You may have your pick

2. Among printers, foul matter which collects on printing types from the balls, bad ink, or from the paper impressed.

PICKAPACK, adverb In manner of a pack. [Vulgar.]

PICK'ARDIL , noun [probably from the root of pike, peak.]

A high collar or a kind of ruff.

PICK'AX, noun [pick and ax.] An ax with a sharp point at tone end and a broad blade at the other.

PICK'BACK, adjective On the back.

PICK'ED, participle passive Plucked off by the fingers, teeth or claws; cleaned by picking; opened by an instrument; selected.

PICK'ED

PICK'EDNESS, noun State of being pointed at the end; sharpness.

1. Foppery; spruceness.

PICKEE'R, verb transitive

1. To pillage; to pirate.

2. To skirmish, as soldiers on the outposts of an army, or in pillaging parties.

PICK'ER, noun One that picks or culls.

1. A pickax or instrument for picking or separating.

2. One that excites a quarrel between himself and another.

PICK'EREL, noun [from pike.] A small pike, a fish of the genus Esox.

PICK'EREL-WEED, noun A plant supposed to breed pickerels.

PICK'ET, noun A stake sharpened or pointed; used in fortification and encampments.

1. A narrow board pointed; used in making fence.

2. A guard posted in front of an army to give notice of the approach of the enemy.

3. A game at cards. [See Piquet.]

4. A punishment with consists in making the offender stand with one foot on a pointed stake.

PICK'ET, verb transitive To fortify with pointed stakes.

1. To inclose or fence with narrow pointed boards.

2. To fasten to a picket

PICK'ETED, participle passive Fortified or inclosed with pickets.

PICK'ETING, participle present tense Inclosing or fortifying with pickets.

PICK'ING, participle present tense Pulling off with the fingers or teeth; selecting.

PICK'ING, noun The act of plucking; selection; gathering; gleaning.

PICK'LE, noun Brine; a solution of salt and water, sometimes impregnated with spices, in which flesh, fish or other substance is preserved; as pickle for beef; pickle for capers or for cucumbers; pickle for herring.

1. A thing preserved in pickle

2. A state of condition of difficulty or disorder; a word used in ridicule or contempt. You are in a fine pickle

How cam'st thou in this pickle?

3. A parcel of land inclosed with a hedge. [Local.]

PICK'LE, verb transitive To preserve in brine or pickle; as, to pickle herring.

1. To season in pickle

2. To imbue highly with any thing bad; as a pickled rogue.

PICKLE-HER'RING, noun A merry Andrew; a zany; a buffoon.

PICK'LOCK, noun [pick and lock.] An instrument for opening locks without the key.

1. A person who picks locks.

PICK'NICK, noun An assembly where each person contributes to the entertainment.

PICK'POCKET, noun One who steals from the pocket of another.

PICK'PURSE, noun One that steals from the purse of another.

PICK'THANK, noun An officious fellow who does what he is not desired to do, for the sake of gaining favor; a whispering parasite.

PICK'TOOTH, noun An instrument for picking or cleaning the teeth. [But toothpick is more generally used.]