The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pick \Pick\ (p[i^]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picked (p[i^]kt); 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.]
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To throw; to pitch. [Obs.]
As high as I could pick my lance.
--Shak. 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.
To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
To open (a lock) as by a wire.
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.
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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. 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.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.
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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.
To pluck; to remove by picking.
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To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy. To pick out.
To mark out; to variegate; as, to pick out any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors.
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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.
To take up, as with the fingers.
To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news.
Usage examples of "to pick off".
Ninhursag and Lawrence Jefferson had managed to pick off a few Sword of God cells, a few score terrorists had been killed in shoot-outs with security forces when they’.
Ravens will circle if there are any bones, descending finally to pick off shreds of meat.
Was Fulk lying in wait to pick off the first to disturb that erection of stools and a table?
Snipers began to pick off any of the still figures that tried to move.
He was able to pick off the remainder of the honeycomb shell with his fingers.
The kamikaze motorcyclists tried to pick off the tourists and the small dogs, while the tiny minibus which we spent most of the evening in, shuttling our bags from one full hotel to another, hurtled through the motorcyclists and counterfeit watch sellers at video game speeds.