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Pick up   /pɪk əp/   Listen
verb
Pick  v. t.  (past & past part. picked; pres. part. picking)  
1.
To throw; to pitch. (Obs.) "As high as I could pick my lance."
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?" "He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet."
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."
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.)
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.)
To pick off.
(a)
To pluck; to remove by picking.
(b)
To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy.
To pick out.
(a)
To mark out; to variegate; as, to pick out any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors.
(b)
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.
(a)
To take up, as with the fingers.
(b)
To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news.


Pick  v. i.  
1.
To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble. "Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?"
2.
To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
3.
To steal; to pilfer. "To keep my hands from picking and stealing."
To pick up, to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. (Colloq. U.S.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pick up" Quotes from Famous Books



... even a clue. Poor little Fairy Godmother says she has only one thing for which to be thankful. No one in Oakdale knows about Tom, barring a few trusted friends. She had been in constant fear lest the newspaper reporters should get hold of it. Of course it would be a severe shock to her to pick up some day a paper and read, 'Mysterious Disappearance of Tom Gray,' or 'Young Man Mysteriously Disappears on the Eve of His Wedding Day,' or some cruel scarehead of the kind. I don't quite know how I should ...
— Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer • Jessie Graham Flower
... deserved it; anyhow, Charlie Forrester will be pleased. By-by, you'll see me again, and all the chaps I can pick up at the Cercle and the ...
— The Passenger from Calais • Arthur Griffiths
... shows how far the custom extends throughout the continent, of considering the rock-crystal as sacred; whether it be that it has been transmitted from tribe to tribe, or that the native was everywhere inclined to pick up a shining stone, and to consider it endowed with peculiar virtues. From the absence of brilliant ores, or precious stones, in the bags and dillis of the natives, I concluded, that neither precious stones nor brilliant metallic substances existed in ...
— Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia • Ludwig Leichhardt
... suppose I'm a cross-grained devil! But if I was angry, where's the wonder? A man doesn't pick up a quaint little book on the quais, and look to have it turning its ...
— Max • Katherine Cecil Thurston
... Young's son, Joseph A. He realized the plight of the travellers, and when his father heard his report he too recognized the fact that aid must be sent at once. The son was directed to get together all the supplies he could obtain in the city or pick up on the way, and to start toward the East immediately. Driving on himself in a light wagon, he reached the advanced line, as they were toiling ahead through their first snowstorm. The provisions travelled slower, and could not reach them in less than one ...
— The Story of the Mormons: • William Alexander Linn


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