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.]
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 out".
He told me to look at the holes and depressions in the pebble and try to pick out the minute detail in them.
I wandered over to the cookie aisle to pick out some lunch, and I wondered if Morelli was still watching the 7-Eleven.
The caller was amidships, on the starboard side, shading his eyes to pick out the small craft.
She tried letting her eyes go unfocused, looking for movement, rather than trying to pick out details, and finally spotted two or three positions within half a kilometer of the dam.
We'll ask Susan to pick out the casket and something for Iris to wear.
He looked up at the cliff face above him once more, and began to pick out a route by which he could ascend it.
After walking around the ship and looking it over carefully, though, Byrne began to pick out the little touches of alienness that showed, and showed clearly to the trained eye of a spaceman.
She peered at the rough brush alongside the road, trying to pick out the track in the light of her headlamps.
Sean tried to pick out Claudia's form, but before he could refocus his binoculars the litter and the bearers had reached the tree fine and disappeared.
I figured he was trying to pick out something he wanted, or maybe even that he was nervous about coming in here-he looked like a real uptown kind of guy-but then he went across the street and into Parki's shop.
Slowly, among the hordes of ordinary and unthreatening people, he began to pick out others.
Slowly, he studied them in his mind, trying to pick out the ones who might at least stand for fair play.
Harker was going back over the morning's session, trying to pick out the phrases the press would leap on.
When the picture was enhanced, maybe they would be able to pick out something that would lead them to the guy.
She reached into my shirt and began to pick out the rice grains that had caught against my sash, running her fingernail along my stomach muscles and dropping the grains, one by one, into my bowl.