picked
simple past tense and past participle of pick
picked (comparative more picked, superlative most picked)
Chosen; selected.
(zoology, of fishes) Having a pike or spine on the back.
(obsolete) fine; spruce; smart; precise; dainty
(obsolete) pointed; sharp
Source: Wiktionary
Pick"ed, a.
1. Pointed; sharp. "Picked and polished." Chapman. Let the stake be made picked at the top. Mortimer.
2. (Zoöl.)
Definition: Having a pike or spine on the back; -- said of certain fishes.
3. Carefully selected; chosen; as, picked men.
4. Fine; spruce; smart; precise; dianty. [Obs.] Shak. Picked dogfish. (Zoöl.) See under Dogfish.
– Picked out, ornamented or relieved with lines, or the like, of a different, usually a lighter, color; as, a carriage body dark green, picked out with red.
Pick, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picked; p. pr. & vb. n. Picking.] Etym: [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. (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.(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]
Pick, v. i.
1. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble. Why stand'st thou picking Is thy palate sore Dryden.
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." Book of Com. Prayer. To pick up, to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. [Colloq. U.S.]
Pick, n. Etym: [F. pic a pickax, a pick. See Pick, and cf. Pike.]
1. A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.
2. (Mining & Mech.)
Definition: A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, -- used by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
3. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler. [Obs.] "Take down my buckler . . . and grind the pick on 't." Beau. & Fl.
4. Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick. France and Russia have the pick of our stables. Ld. Lytton.
5. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick of the flock.
6. (Print.)
Definition: A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet. MacKellar.
7. (Painting)
Definition: That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
8. (Weawing)
Definition: The blow which drives the shuttle, -- the rate of speed of a loom being reckoned as so many picks per minute; hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread; as, so many picks to an inch. Pick dressing (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions.
– Pick hammer, a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
25 December 2024
(adjective) having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning; “As a horror, apartheid...is absolutely unambiguous”- Mario Vargas Llosa
Coffee dates back to the 9th century. Goat herders in Ethiopia noticed their goats seem to be “dancing” after eating berries from a particular shrub. They reported it to the local monastery, and a monk made a drink out of it. The monk found out he felt energized and kept him awake at night. That’s how the first coffee drink was born.
