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What is "to pick to pieces"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To pick to pieces

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.]

  1. To throw; to pitch. [Obs.]

    As high as I could pick my lance.
    --Shak.

  2. 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.

  3. To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.

  4. To open (a lock) as by a wire.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

    1. To pluck; to remove by picking.

    2. To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy. To pick out.

      1. To mark out; to variegate; as, to pick out any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors.

      2. 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.

        1. To take up, as with the fingers.

        2. To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news.