<B>pickaninny, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small Negro child (now usually used in an unfriendly way in the United States). <DD><B> 2. </B>any small child. </DL>
<B>pickax</B> or <B>pickaxe, </B>noun, verb, <B>-axed,</B> <B>-axing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a tool with a heavy metal bar, pointed at one or both ends, attached through the center to a wooden handle; pick. It is used for breaking and prying up earth, rocks, and other compacted or heavy material. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to break, clear, or pry up with a pickax. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to work with or use a pickax. </DL>
<A NAME="picked">
<B>picked</B> (1), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>specially selected for merit. <BR> <I>Ex. The crew of the lugger ... all of whom were picked men, remarkable for their strength and activity (Frederick Marryat).</I> (SYN) choice, excellent. <DD><B> 2. </B>with waste parts removed and ready for use. <BR> <I>Ex. a freshly picked chicken.</I> (SYN) plucked. <DD><B> 3. </B>with fruit, grain, or other produce removed; stripped. <BR> <I>Ex. a clean picked field.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="picked">
<B>picked</B> (2), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having a sharp point; pointed; spiked. <DD><B> 2. </B>covered with sharp points; prickly. </DL>
<A NAME="pickeer">
<B>pickeer, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) to reconnoiter; scout. </DL>
<A NAME="picker">
<B>picker</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who gathers, picks, or collects. <BR> <I>Ex. an apple picker, a ragpicker.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a tool or machine for picking anything. <BR> <I>Ex. Mr. Alleman showed ... the corn picker with which he can pick twenty acres of corn in a ten-hour day (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>a machine for separating and cleaning the fibers of cotton, wool, and the like. <DD><B> b. </B>a person who runs such a machine. </DL>
<A NAME="picker">
<B>picker</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the small piece in a loom, usually of leather, that drives the shuttle back and forth through the warp. </DL>
<A NAME="pickerel">
<B>pickerel, </B>noun, pl. <B>-els</B> or (collectively) <B>-el.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of various smaller kinds of pike, used for food. <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) a pike not yet full grown, but of a size large enough to catch. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=pike perch.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pickerelfrog">
<B>pickerel frog,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a common, spotted, green or brown frog of eastern North America; green frog. </DL>
<A NAME="pickerelweed">
<B>pickerelweed, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any of a genus of North American herbs with spikes of blue flowers and heart-shaped leaves, growing in shallow, usually quiet, water. </DL>
<A NAME="pickerup">
<B>picker-up, </B>noun, pl. <B>pickers-up.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who picks up. <BR> <I>Ex. a picker-up of words, a picker-up of trifles.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="picket">
<B>picket, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a pointed stake or peg driven into the ground to make a fence or to tie a horse to. <BR> <I>Ex. The dogs were afraid to jump the pickets of the fence.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a small body of troops, or a single man, posted at some place to watch for the enemy and guard against surprise attacks. <BR> <I>Ex. Pickets were posted on all sides of the camp.</I> (SYN) sentry, sentinel. <DD><B> 3. </B>a person stationed by a labor union near a factory or store where there is a strike. Pickets try to prevent employees from working or customers from buying. <BR> <I>Ex. Pickets had been removed and workers had returned to their jobs at twelve different plants where they had been on strike (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a person who takes part in a public demonstration or boycott to support a cause; demonstrator. <BR> <I>Ex. 500 pickets marched around City Hall ... protesting the treatment of Negroes in Birmingham (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to enclose with pickets; fence. <BR> <I>Ex. to picket a yard.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to tie to a picket. <BR> <I>Ex. Picket your horse here.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to station as a picket: guard with or as if with pickets. <BR> <I>Ex. to picket soldiers around a camp.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to station pickets at or near. <BR> <I>Ex. to picket a factory during a strike.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to act as a picket. Also, (British,) <B>picquet.</B> noun <B>picketer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="picketboat">
<B>picket boat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an armed naval boat that patrols an area, especially at night. </DL>
<A NAME="picketfence">
<B>picket fence,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fence made of pickets. </DL>
<A NAME="picketline">
<B>picket line,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a line of persons acting as pickets at or near a factory, store, or other establishment. <BR> <I>Ex. When the skeleton crew showed up for work ... they were met by a sullen, hostile picket line of several hundred strikers (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a military position held by an advance guard of men stationed at intervals. <BR> <I>Ex. The picket line of Minitrack stations across their expected path is strung out in a north-south line (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="picketpin">
<B>picket pin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a long iron pin with a swivel link at the top, to which a picket rope is tied. </DL>
<A NAME="picketship">
<B>picket ship,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a ship used to watch for and warn against an enemy approach, now especially a radar picket. </DL>
<A NAME="pickily">
<B>pickily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) in a picky manner; choosily. </DL>
<A NAME="pickiness">
<B>pickiness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) picky quality or condition; choosiness. </DL>
<A NAME="picking">
<B>picking, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of a person or thing that picks. <BR><I>expr. <B>pickings,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>amount picked. </I> <I>Ex. The final pickings may bring the crop closer to 15 million bales (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>things left over; scraps. <BR> <I>Ex. The vultures had then but small pickings (Milton).</I> <DD><B> c. </B>(Figurative.) profits; returns. <BR> <I>Ex. The time was 1930 and interior designers in that lean year were having slim pickings indeed (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> d. </B>things stolen or received dishonestly. <BR> <I>Ex. It must be confessed that the pickings of the office [of Paymaster General] were enormous (W. P. Courtney).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pickle">
<B>pickle</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>-led,</B> <B>-ling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a cucumber preserved in salt water (brine), vinegar, or other liquid. <BR> <I>Ex. a dill pickle.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>any other vegetable preserved in such a way. <DD><B> 2. </B>salt water (brine), vinegar, or other liquid in which meats, fish, and vegetables can be preserved. <BR> <I>Ex. to put ham in pickle before smoking it.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) trouble; difficulty. <BR> <I>Ex. I got in a bad pickle today.</I> (SYN) plight, predicament. <DD><B> 4. </B>an acid bath or other chemical preparation, used for removing oxides or other corrosion from metals. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to preserve in pickle. <BR> <I>Ex. Grandmother pickled several quarts of beets.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to clean with an acid bath or other chemical preparation. <BR> <I>Ex. The cold-rolling firms take steel from the rerollers and "pickle" it to clean off scale (London Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in pickle,</B> </I>kept prepared for use. <BR> <I>Ex. to have a rod in pickle to punish a naughty child.</I> noun <B>pickler.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pickle">
<B>pickle</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a grain of wheat, barley, or oats; kernel. <DD><B> 2. </B>a very small quantity; trifle. </DL>
<A NAME="pickled">
<B>pickled, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>preserved in or treated with a pickle. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Slang.) intoxicated; drunk. </DL>
<A NAME="pickleworm">
<B>pickleworm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the larva of a pyralid moth of North and South America that lays its eggs on young cucumbers and other plants of the gourd family, the larva boring into the fruit and spoiling it. </DL>
<A NAME="picklock">
<B>picklock, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who picks locks, especially to steal; thief; burglar. <DD><B> 2. </B>an instrument for picking locks. </DL>
<A NAME="pickmeup">
<B>pick-me-up, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a stimulating or bracing drink, food, or medicine. <BR> <I>Ex. When his spirits flag, he takes an egg as a pick-me-up (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pickoff">
<B>pickoff, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a baseball play in which a runner is caught off base by a sudden throw from the pitcher or catcher. <BR> <I>Ex. They proved that a perfect pickoff at first could be foozled not once but again (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an offensive play in basketball in which one player blocks a defensive man in order to free another player, guarded by that man, for a pass. <DD><B> 3. </B>an electronic device that detects geometric changes in a pattern and responds to them with a signal. Pickoffs are used especially in automation. </DL>
<A NAME="pickpocket">
<B>pickpocket, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who steals from people's pockets. <BR> <I>Ex. Pickpockets often work in crowds of people.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pickproof">
<B>pickproof, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> very hard or impossible to break open. <BR> <I>Ex. This lock is practically pickproof.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pickpurse">
<B>pickpurse, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who steals purses or their contents. </DL>
<A NAME="picksome">
<B>picksome, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> given to picking and choosing; fastidious; particular. noun <B>picksomeness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pickthank">
<B>pickthank, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a flatterer; toady. <BR> <I>Ex. He takes to sulking at home and dining a crew of worthless pickthanks who ... tell him what he wants to hear (Time).</I> </DL>
