PICKET

picket, piquet

(noun) a form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake

picket, pale

(noun) a wooden strip forming part of a fence

picket

(noun) a vehicle performing sentinel duty

picket

(noun) a detachment of troops guarding an army from surprise attack

lookout, lookout man, sentinel, sentry, watch, spotter, scout, picket

(noun) a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event

picket

(noun) a protester posted by a labor organization outside a place of work

picket

(verb) fasten with a picket; “picket the goat”

picket

(verb) serve as pickets or post pickets; “picket a business to protest the layoffs”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

picket (countable and uncountable, plural pickets)

A stake driven into the ground.

(historical) A type of punishment by which an offender had to rest his or her entire body weight on the top of a small stake.

A tool in mountaineering that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor or to arrest falls.

(military) One of the soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance; or any unit (for example, an aircraft or ship) performing a similar function.

(sometimes, figurative) A sentry.

A protester positioned outside an office, workplace etc. during a strike (usually in plural); also the protest itself.

(card games, uncountable) The card game piquet.

Verb

picket (third-person singular simple present pickets, present participle picketing, simple past and past participle picketed)

(intransitive) To protest, organized by a labour union, typically in front of the location of employment.

(transitive) To enclose or fortify with pickets or pointed stakes.

(transitive) To tether to, or as if to, a picket.

(transitive) To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.

(obsolete, transitive) To torture by forcing to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.

Source: Wiktionary

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Pick"et, n. Etym: [F. piquet, properly dim. of pique spear, pike. See Pike, and cf. Piquet.]

1. A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.

2. A pointed pale, used in marking fences.

3. Etym: [Probably so called from the picketing of the horses.] (Mil.)

Definition: A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket.

4. By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept outsiders, and prevent them from working for employers with whom the organization is at variance. [Cant]

5. A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.

6. A game at cards. See Piquet. Inlying picket (Mil.), a detachment of troops held in camp or quarters, detailed to march if called upon.

– Picket fence, a fence made of pickets. See def. 2, above.

– Picket guard (Mil.), a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm.

– Picket line. (Mil.) (a) A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed at intervals. (b) A rope to which horses are secured when groomed.

– Picketpin, an iron pin for picketing horses.

Pick"et, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Picketing.]

1. To fortify with pointed stakes.

2. To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.

3. To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse.

4. To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.

5. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. [Obs.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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