(v.) To throw; to pitch.
(v.) 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.
(v.) To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as,
to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
(v.) To open (a lock) as by a wire.
(v.) 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.
(v.) 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.
(v.) 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.
(v.) 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.
(v.) To trim.
(v. i.) To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
(v. i.) To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to
small things; to select something with care.
(v. i.) To steal; to pilfer.
(n.) A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in
composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.
(n.) 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.
(n.) A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a
buckler.
(n.) Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick.
(n.) That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the
pick of the flock.
(n.) 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.
(n.) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct
an unevenness in a picture.
(n.) 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.
