PICKLE

pickle

(noun) vegetables (especially cucumbers) preserved in brine or vinegar

fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of fish

(noun) informal terms for a difficult situation; “he got into a terrible fix”; “he made a muddle of his marriage”

pickle

(verb) preserve in a pickling liquid

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

pickle (plural pickles)

A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.

(often, in the plural) Any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed as relish.

The brine used for preserving food.

(informal) A difficult situation; peril.

(affectionate) A mildly mischievous loved one.

(baseball) A rundown.

A children’s game with three participants that emulates a baseball rundown

(slang) A penis.

(slang) A pipe for smoking methamphetamine.

(metalworking) A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc, to remove burnt sand, scale, rust, etc, from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their colour.

In an optical landing system, the hand-held controller connected to the lens, or apparatus on which the lights are mounted.

Synonyms

• (penis): See also penis

Verb

pickle (third-person singular simple present pickles, present participle pickling, simple past and past participle pickled)

(transitive, ergative) To preserve food in a salt, sugar or vinegar solution.

(transitive) To remove high-temperature scale and oxidation from metal with heated (often sulphuric) industrial acid.

(programming) (in the Python programming language) To serialize.

Etymology 2

Noun

pickle (plural pickles)

(Northern England, Scotland) A kernel; a grain (of salt, sugar, etc.)

(Northern England, Scotland) A small or indefinite quantity or amount (of something); a little, a bit, a few. Usually in partitive construction, frequently without "of"; a single grain or kernel of wheat, barley, oats, sand or dust.

Verb

pickle (third-person singular simple present pickles, present participle pickling, simple past and past participle pickled)

(Northern England, Scotland, ambitransitive) To eat sparingly.

(Northern England, Scotland, ambitransitive) To pilfer.

Anagrams

• pelick

Proper noun

Pickle (plural Pickles)

A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Pickle is the 9493rd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 3425 individuals. Pickle is most common among White (94.22%) individuals.

Anagrams

• pelick

Source: Wiktionary


Pic"kle, n. [Obs.]

Definition: See Picle.

Pic"kle, n. Etym: [Cf. D. pekel. Probably a dim. fr. Pick, v. t., alluding to the cleaning of the fish.]

1. (a) A solution of salt and water, in which fish, meat, etc., may be preserved or corned; brine. (b) Vinegar, plain or spiced, used for preserving vegetables, fish, eggs, oysters, etc.

2. Any article of food which has been preserved in brine or in vinegar.

3. (Founding)

Definition: A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their color.

4. A troublesome child; as, a little pickle. [Colloq.] To be in a pickle, to be in disagreeable position; to be in a condition of embarrassment, difficulty, or disorder. "How cam'st thou in this pickle" Shak.

– To put a rod in pickle, to prepare a particular reproof, punishment, or penalty for future application.

Pic"kle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pickled; p. pr. & vb. n. Pickling.]

1. To preserve or season in pickle; to treat with some kind of pickle; as, to pickle herrings or cucumbers.

2. To give an antique appearance to; -- said of copies or imitations of paintings by the old masters.

Pi"cle, n. Etym: [Prob. fr. pightel or pingle.]

Definition: A small piece of land inclosed with a hedge; a close. [Obs.] [Written also pickle.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

8 May 2025

INSULATION

(noun) the act of protecting something by surrounding it with material that reduces or prevents the transmission of sound or heat or electricity


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, on 25 September 2016, the Birla Institute of Management Technology (India) in Uttar Pradesh, India, constructed the largest coffee cups pyramid consisting of 23,821 cups. They used paper takeaway coffee cups to build the pyramid.

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