pick

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends

   they used picks and sledges to break the rocks

2. 2
   noun

   a thin sharp implement used for removing unwanted material

   I used a pick to clean the dirt out of the cracks.

3. 3
   noun

   the person or thing chosen or selected

   The baker was my pick for mayor.

4. 4
   noun

   the quantity of a crop that is harvested

   I sent the first pick of berries to the market.

5. 5
   verb

   remove in small bits

   pick meat from a bone

6. 6
   verb

   select carefully from a group

   I finally picked my successor.

7. 7
   verb

   harass with constant criticism

   Don't always pick on your little brother

8. 8
   verb

   look for and gather

   pick mushrooms

Etymology

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck. Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull aw…