pick

PICK, verb transitive [Latin pecto.] 1. To pull off or pluck with the fingers something that grows or adheres to another thing; to separate by the hand, as fruit from trees; as, to pick apples or oranges; to pick strawberries. 2. To pull off or separate with the teeth, beak or claws; as, to pick flesh from a bone; hence, 3. To clean by the teeth, fingers or claws, or by a small instrument, by separating something that adheres; as, to pick a bone; to pick the ears. 4. To take up; to cause or seek industriously; as, to pick a quarrel. 5. To separate or pull asunder; to pull into small parcels by the fingers; to separate locks for loosening and cleaning; as, to pick wool. 6. To pierce; to strike with a pointed instrument; as, to pick an apple with a pin. 7. To strike with the bill or beak; to puncture. In this sense, we generally use peck. 8. To steal by taking out with the fingers or hands; as, to pick the pocket. 9. To open by a pointed instrument; as, to pick a lock. 10. To select; to cull; to separate particular things from others; as, to pick the best men from a company. In this sense, the word is often followed by out. To pick off, to separate by the fingers or by a small pointed instrument. PICK out, to select; to separate individuals from numbers. To pick up, to take up with the fingers or beak; also, to take particular things here and there; to gather; to glean. To pick a hole in one's coat, to find fault. PICK, verb intransitive To eat slowly or by morsels; to nibble. 1. To do any thing nicely or by attending to small things. PICK, noun A sharp pointed tool for digging or removing in small quantities. What the miners call chert and whern--is so hard that the picks will not touch it. 1. Choice; right of selection. You may have your pick 2. Among printers, foul matter which collects on printing types from the balls, bad ink, or from the paper impressed.