Picked Pick Pɪk Picking Time Choose Things Good

• pick a number from one to twenty.
• they are picking the final team this weekend.
• it's time to pick a side (= decide who you support).
• he picked his words carefully.

pick

Verb Forms

1. to choose somebody/something from a group of people or things
• SEE ALSO hand-picked
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/hand-picked
• Pick a number from one to twenty.
• They are picking the final team this weekend.
• It's time to pick a side (= decide who you support).
• He picked his words carefully.
• At the beach we picked a spot to sit down.
• He has been picked to play in this week's game.
• Have you been picked for the team?
• It was picked as the best film in the competition.

Extra Examples

• Companies want to pick the best candidates for the job.
• There are so many good ones it's hard to pick a favourite.
• They picked Jane as the captain.
• She picked the best cake for herself.
• Have I picked a bad time to talk to you?
2. to take flowers, fruit, etc. from the plant or the tree where they are growing
• to pick grapes/strawberries/cotton
• flowers freshly picked from the garden
• The common was a great place to go blackberry picking.

Extra Examples

• They picked some flowers and arranged them into a beautiful bouquet.
• freshly picked strawberries
3. to pull or remove something or small pieces of something from something else, especially with your fingers
• She picked bits of fluff from his sweater.
• He picked the nuts off the top of the cake.
• Names were picked at random out of a hat.
• to pick your nose (= put your finger inside your nose to remove dried mucus)
• to pick your teeth (= use a small sharp piece of wood or plastice to remove pieces of food from your teeth)
• The dogs picked the bones clean (= ate all the meat from the bones).
4. to play a musical instrument, especially a guitar, by pulling the strings with your fingers
5. to be angry with somebody about something and want to discuss it with them
6. to choose only those things that you like or want very much
• You have to take any job you can get—you can't pick and choose.
7. to ask somebody a lot of questions about something because they know more about the subject than you do
• I need to pick your brains: what can you tell me about credit unions?
8. to deliberately start a fight or an argument with somebody
• He had drunk too much and was ready to pick a fight with anyone who crossed his path.
• She tried to pick a quarrel with me.
9. to find the weak points in something such as a plan, suggestion, etc.
• It was easy to pick holes in his arguments.
10. to open a lock without a key, using something such as a piece of wire
• The burglars must have picked the lock on the back door.
11. to steal something from somebody’s pocket without them noticing
• RELATED NOUN pickpocket
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/pickpocket
• The back pocket on a pair of jeans is the easiest one to pick.
12. to criticize somebody, or their work or ideas, very severely
13. to criticize somebody, or their work or ideas, very severely
• Their case was torn to shreds by the defence lawyer.
14. to pay for something
• The company picked up the tab for his hotel room.
• The government will continue to pick up college fees for some students.
15. to return or to help somebody return to a normal situation, particularly after a shock or a disaster
• You cannot live your children's lives for them; you can only be there to pick up the pieces when things go wrong.
16. to go faster
• The train began to pick up speed.
17. to return to an earlier situation or way of life after a period doing something else
18. to walk carefully, choosing the safest, driest, etc. place to put your feet
• She picked her way delicately over the rough ground.
• We picked our way carefully over the jagged rocks.
19. to choose a horse, etc. that you think is most likely to win a race
• He's very good at picking winners.
20. to make a very good choice
21. offering somebody an ideal opportunity to gain an advantage
• This is an opportunity ripe for the picking.
• The Raiders' defense is ripe for the picking.

Word Origin

• verb Middle English (earlier as pike, which continues in dialect use): of unknown origin. Compare with Dutch pikken ‘pick, peck’, and German picken ‘peck, puncture’, also with French piquer ‘to prick’.