pick

Meaning

Noun

1. A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
2. (slang) 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. (obsolete) 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. (Australia) 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.
13. An interception.
14. A good defensive play by an infielder.
15. A pickoff.
16. (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.
17. That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
18. 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

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. (transitive) 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.
13. To steal; to pilfer.
14. (obsolete) To throw; to pitch.
15. (dated, transitive) 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. (ambitransitive) To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
17. To screen.
18. (informal) To intercept a pass from the offense as a defensive player.

Synonyms

pluck

choose

select

gather

plectrum

collect

peck

choice

pickaxe

elect

cull

harvest

selection

take

prick

pickax

tear off

pick up

option

mattock

pick out

poke

opt

name

pull out

hoe

get

awl

pierce

picking

assort

weft

stick

tear

woof

hack

nip off

separate

clean

nibble

sort

foot

🦶

filling

glean

plunk

catch

pique

draw

beater

break up

Translations

cueillir

scegliere

choisir

escoger

raccogliere

auswählen

wählen

escolher

kiezen

pflücken

⛏️

prendre

scelta

pico

cogliere

⛏️

uitkiezen

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pɪk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: piken

Inherited from Old English: *piccian

Cognate with Dutch: pikken

Cognate with German: picken

Cognate with Old Norse: pikka

Cognate with Icelandic: pikka

Cognate with Swedish: picka

In summary

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”)).

Sentences

Just pick up a first aid kit to restore your health .