The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pickup \Pick"up\, or Pick-up \Pick"-up`\, n. [Colloq., Cant, or Slang]
Act of picking up, as, in various games, the fielding or hitting of a ball just after it strikes the ground.
That which picks up; specif.: (Elec.) same as Brush b.
One that is picked up, as a meal hastily got up for the occasion, a chance acquaintance, an informal game, etc.
a social companion for the evening who is met without prior arrangement, as at a singles bar; also, the act of joining with such a companion in that fashion.
(Automobiles) acceleration; a measure of the ability of a vehicle to accelerate.
(Electronics) a component of a phonograph which contains the stylus and also components for converting the vibrations of the stylus into electrical impulses for subsequent processing into sound; often referred to as a cartridge; also, the process of converting vibrations into electrical impulses.
(Electronics) the conversion of sound or light into electrical signals in a sound or image recording or transmitting device.
(Vehicles) a small truck having an enclosed driver's compartment (cab) but an open rear with usually low sides and a tailgate. Also called pickup truck.
a hitchhiker who has been picked up.
Wiktionary
n. (context chiefly North America English) A light truck with an open cargo bed.
WordNet
n. a light truck with an open body and low sides and a tailboard [syn: pickup]
Wikipedia
A pickup truck is a light duty truck having an enclosed cab and an open cargo area with low sides and tailgate. Once a work tool with few creature comforts, in the 1950s consumers began purchasing pickups for lifestyle reasons and by the 1990s less than 15 percent of owners reported use in work as the pickup truck's primary purpose. Today in North America, the pickup is mostly used like a passenger car and accounts for about 18 per cent of total vehicles sold in the US.
The term pickup is of unknown origin. It was used by Studebaker in 1913 and by the 1930s pick-up (hyphenated) had become the standard term. In Australia and New Zealand ute, short for utility, is used for both pickups and coupé utilities. In South Africa people of all language groups use the term bakkie, a diminutive of bak, Afrikaans for bowl.
Usage examples of "pickup truck".
I'm tired of every time I pull up in back of a pickup truck there's a fucking gun on a fucking rack on the fucking rear window.
They had stopped at a fork in the back road, the semi pointed down one and the pickup truck and horse trailer headed down the other.
She scribbled the number, nodded, and went back out to her pickup truck.
He'd dropped back to put some distance between them and the red pickup truck, which was weaving slightly and accelerating in unpredictable bursts.
They do not even turn their heads to gape up at the ruined shack, the chief's car, the pickup truck - which Wendell instantly recognizes - and the men standing on the beaten grass, two of whom are Dale Gilbertson and the pickup's owner, Hollywood Jack Sawyer, that snooty L.
He stayed with the computer to watch the Range Rover as it strove to elude the pickup truck by weaving back and forth across the shopping-center parking lot.