pick : Idioms & Phrases


A bone to pick

  • something to investigate, or to busy one's self about; a dispute to be settled (with some one).
Webster 1913

guitar pick

  • noun a plectrum used to pluck a guitar
WordNet

hand-pick

  • verb pick personally and very carefully
    • the director hand-picked his new team
WordNet

Ice pick

  • noun pick consisting of a steel rod with a sharp point; used for breaking up blocks of ice
    icepick.
WordNet
  • a sharp instrument for breaking ice into small pieces.
Webster 1913

Mill pick

  • a pick for dressing millstones.
Webster 1913

niemann-pick disease

  • noun a disorder of lipid metabolism that is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait
WordNet

pick apart

  • verb find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws
    criticise; knock; criticize.
    • The paper criticized the new movie
    • Don't knock the food--it's free
WordNet

pick at

  • verb pluck or pull at with the fingers
    pull at; pluck at.
    • She picked nervously at the buttons of her blouse
  • verb eat like a bird
    peck; peck at.
    • The anorexic girl just picks at her food
  • verb express a negative opinion of
    disparage; belittle.
    • She disparaged her student's efforts
WordNet

Pick dressing

  • (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions.
Webster 1913

Pick hammer

  • a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.
Webster 1913

pick off

  • verb shoot one by one
  • verb pull or pull out sharply
    tweak; pluck; pull off.
    • pluck the flowers off the bush
WordNet

pick out

  • verb pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
    choose; select; take.
    • Take any one of these cards
    • Choose a good husband for your daughter
    • She selected a pair of shoes from among the dozen the salesgirl had shown her
  • verb detect with the senses
    recognize; spot; make out; tell apart; recognise; distinguish; discern.
    • The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards
    • I can't make out the faces in this photograph
WordNet

pick over

  • verb separate or remove
    sieve out.
    • The customer picked over the selection
WordNet

pick up

  • verb take and lift upward
    gather up; lift up.
  • verb take up by hand
    • He picked up the book and started to read
  • verb give a passenger or a hitchhiker a lift
    • We picked up a hitchhiker on the highway
  • verb gather or collect
    call for; collect; gather up.
    • You can get the results on Monday
    • She picked up the children at the day care center
    • They pick up our trash twice a week
  • verb get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
    get a line; discover; see; hear; learn; find out; get wind; get word.
    • I learned that she has two grown-up children
    • I see that you have been promoted
  • verb get in addition, as an increase
    • The candidate picked up thousands of votes after his visit to the nursing home
  • verb take into custody
    nab; cop; apprehend; nail; arrest; collar.
    • the police nabbed the suspected criminals
  • verb buy casually or spontaneously
    • I picked up some food for a snack
  • verb register (perceptual input)
    receive.
    • pick up a signal
  • verb lift out or reflect from a background
    • The scarf picks up the color of the skirt
    • His eyes picked up his smile
  • verb meet someone for sexual purposes
    • he always tries to pick up girls in bars
  • verb fill with high spirits; fill with optimism
    intoxicate; uplift; elate; lift up.
    • Music can uplift your spirits
  • verb improve significantly; go from bad to good
    turn around.
    • Her performance in school picked up
  • verb perceive with the senses quickly, suddenly, or momentarily
    catch.
    • I caught the aroma of coffee
    • He caught the allusion in her glance
    • ears open to catch every sound
    • The dog picked up the scent
    • Catch a glimpse
  • verb eat by pecking at, like a bird
    peck.
  • verb gain or regain energy
    perk; perk up; gain vigor; percolate.
    • I picked up after a nap
WordNet

pick up the gauntlet

  • verb be dared to do something and attempt it
    take a dare.
WordNet

pick's disease

  • noun a progressive form of presenile dementia found most often in middle-aged and elderly women and characterized by degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes with loss of intellectual ability and transitory aphasia
WordNet

pick-fault

Pick"-fault` noun
Definitions
  1. One who seeks out faults.
Webster 1913

pick-me-up

  • noun anything with restorative powers
    pickup.
    • she needed the pickup that coffee always gave her
  • noun a tonic or restorative (especially a drink of liquor)
    bracer.
WordNet

pick-off

  • noun a baseball play in which a base runner is caught off base and tagged out
WordNet

Poll pick

  • (Mining), a pole having a heavy spike on the end, forming a kind of crowbar.
Webster 1913

To pick a bone with

  • to quarrel with, as dogs quarrel over a bone; to settle a disagreement. Colloq.
Webster 1913

To pick a crow, To pluck a crow

  • to state and adjust a difference or grievance (with any one).
Webster 1913

To pick a quarrel

  • to give occasion of quarrel intentionally.
Webster 1913

To pick a thank

  • to curry favor. Obs. Robynson (More's Utopia).
Webster 1913

To pick at

  • to tease or vex by pertinacious annoyance.
Webster 1913

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.
Webster 1913

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.
Webster 1913

To pick to pieces

  • to pull apart piece by piece; hence Colloq., to analyze; esp., to criticize in detail.
Webster 1913

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. (c) to acquire (an infectious disease); as, to pick up a cold on the airplane. (d) To meet (a person) and induce to accompany one; as, to pick up a date at the mall. [See several other defs in MW10]
  • to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. Colloq. U.S. or, to increase gradually, as the car picked up speed rolling downhill
Webster 1913