pick

pronunciation

How to pronounce pick in British English: UK [pɪk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce pick in American English: US [pɪk] word us audio image

Noun:

the person or thing chosen or selected
the quantity of a crop that is harvested
the best people or things in a group
the yarn woven across the warp yarn in weaving
a small thin device (of metal or plastic or ivory) used to pluck a stringed instrument
a thin sharp implement used for picking
a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends
a basketball maneuver; obstructing an opponent with one's body
the act of choosing or selecting
Verb:

select carefully from a group
look for and gather
harass with constant criticism
provoke
remove in small bits
remove unwanted substances from, such as feathers or pits
pilfer or rob
pay for something
pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion
attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example
hit lightly with a picking motion
eat intermittently; take small bites of

Word Origin

pick: pick: English has two distinct words pick. The verb [15], which originally meant ‘pierce’ (a sense which survives in ‘pick holes in’), appears to come via Old French piquer from a Vulgar Latin *piccāre ‘prick, pierce’. Picket [17], which originally meant ‘pointed stake’, is probably derived from the same source (its modern sense ‘guard’, which emerged in the 18th century, comes from the practice of soldiers tying their horses to stakes). Pique [16] is a slightly later borrowing from French. Pick ‘sharp implement’ [14] (as in toothpick) is probably related to Old English pīc ‘pointed object’, source of English pike ‘spear’.It also lies behind English peak. In view of their close semantic similarity, it seems likely that the two picks share a common ancestor, which was no doubt responsible also for Old French picois ‘pickaxe’, altered in English, under the influence of axe, to pickaxe [15].=> picket, pique; peak, pike

pick (v.): early 13c., picken "to peck;" c. 1300, piken "to work with a pick," probably representing a fusion of Old English *pician "to prick," (implied by picung "a piercing, pricking," an 8c. gloss on Latin stigmata) with Old Norse pikka "to prick, peck," both from a Germanic root (source also of Middle Dutch picken, German picken "to pick, peck"), perhaps imitative. Influence from Middle French piquer "to prick, sting" (see pike (n.2)) also is possible, but that French word generally is not considered a source of the English word. Related: Picked; picking. Meaning "to eat with small bites" is from 1580s. The meaning "to choose, select, pick out" emerged late 14c., from earlier meaning "to pluck with the fingers" (early 14c.). Sense of "to rob, plunder" (c. 1300) weakened to a milder sense of "steal petty things" by late 14c. Of forcing locks with a pointed tool, by 1540s. Meaning "to pluck (a banjo)" is recorded from 1860. To pick a quarrel, etc. is from mid-15c.; to pick at "find fault with" is from 1670s. Pick on "single out for adverse attention" is from late 14c.; pick off "shoot one by one" is recorded from 1810; baseball sense of "to put out a runner on base" is from 1939. Also see pick up. To pick and choose "select carefully" is from 1660s (choose and pick is attested from c. 1400).

pick (n.1): c. 1200, "pointed tool for breaking up rock or ground," variant of pike (n.4). Meaning "sharp tool" is from mid-14c.

pick (n.2): mid-15c., "a blow with a pointed instrument," from pick (v.). Meaning "plectrum for a guitar, lute, etc." is from 1895; as a type of basketball block, from 1951; meaning "choicest part or example" is first recorded 1760.

vt. & vi.

5. One of the consistent fantasies of leadership is that you pick your best and brightest and go to war .