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to pick

to pick

1.0
To gather fruit or flowers by hand
  • verb
  • /pɪk/
translation icon : recoger
  • Broadbent crouches by the trail and picks up a hunk of pale gray lichen.
  • pick fruit
  • pick apples
  • hand-picked

We need them to pick the crops down here.

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Examples

  • We need them to pick the crops down here.

  • You just wake up, pick your flowers, make bread.

  • Things get worse, and eventually we find ourselves picking fruit before it is really edible.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Ahead of us, women in shawls and small children are picking up coal along the road.

    Academic text (2011)
  • A handful of blueberries he has picked from the shrubs that hug the forest floor.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Striding to the mantel, he picked up the matching vase and smashed it to the floor.

    Academic text (2011)
  • In autumn, we will pick apples from the orchard.

  • The children love to pick wildflowers during our nature walks.

  • Farmers must pick the ripe tomatoes before the frost arrives.

Synonyms

to gather
vsto pick
129 1.6

Collect food like fruits, nuts, or plants from the wild

focuses on removing items from where they grow, not searching wild food
to harvest
vsto pick
84 1.6

To gather ripe crops from the fields

is small-scale removal from plants rather than large organised crop collection
to pluck
vsto pick
77 3.5

To pull something out quickly with the fingers

is general removal from growth place, not necessarily quick or sharp
to pick off
vsto pick
9 4.3

Pull things away one at a time

is general gathering rather than taking single items sharply
to handpick
vsto pick
4 3.7

Choose the best items by hand one by one

is ordinary removal from where things grow, not focused on choice

Idioms

Choose any one you want from the options

5 3.7

The best or most wanted one in a group, like the strongest puppy

5 5.8

To choose which problems to deal with instead of trying to solve every problem

Challenge someone of similar size or strength instead of someone weaker

1 8.6

To accept a challenge and try to meet it

To leave a group or activity because you do not get your way

Leave a meeting or project because you are upset

To get better after a failure and start again

Phrasal Verbs

2.5

To get something from a store or give someone a ride

2.6

To learn or notice something often by chance

834 1.0

To lift something or someone from the ground with your hands

237 2.0

Choose one person or thing from a group

165 3.0

To get better or stronger

to pick on
  • Informal
156 3.5

To say mean things to someone again and again because they seem weaker

142 3.9

To notice something that is not obvious

to pick up
  • NSFW
126 8.2

To meet someone to start a romantic or sexual relationship

to pick up
  • Informal
125 3.9

To take someone to the police because they are suspected of a crime

77 2.8

To pay for something, often for someone else

64 3.0

Notice a sound or sight among other things

24 4.0

To eat small bits of food by pecking like a bird

to cherry-pick
  • Informal
23 6.3

To choose only the best people or things for yourself

To move or work faster

to pick off
  • Offensive
22 8.0

Shoot and kill opponents one by one from a hidden place

20 3.8

To choose carefully by yourself for a special purpose

to pick apart
  • Informal
14 5.2

To find faults in ideas or work by pointing out small problems

11 3.4

To show a color or detail from another thing

9 4.3

Pull things away one at a time

5 4.6

Eat very small amounts of food when not feeling hungry

5 3.8

Pull at something with your fingers again and again, often nervously

3 5.7

Keep finding small faults in someone or their ideas

2 3.6

To look through items carefully to choose the best or remove bad ones

2 7.7

To open a lock without a key by using tools

1 7.0

Choose only data that supports an idea and ignore data that disagrees

1 4.2

Do something slowly and without interest, often doing only small parts

To start an earlier activity or conversation again after an interruption

to cherry-pick
  • Specialized
6.5

To copy one change from a code branch into another without copying other changes

Touching scabs again and again so they do not heal, sometimes meaning you reopen old hurts

To ask someone for ideas or advice about something they know well

5.3

To put a finger in your nose to remove mucus

7.8

To put a needle into dropped or unfinished loops to fix knitting

Compounds

26 4.2

A drink or small activity that makes you feel more energetic when tired

20 3.5

A metal tool with a sharp point that you use to break blocks of ice

pick-off
  • Specialized
5 7.5

A play where the pitcher or catcher throws quickly to tag a runner off base

4 2.9

A small flat piece for plucking or strumming guitar strings

A player chosen by a team's captain to play in a game

1 7.9

A small hooked tool to clean mud and stones from a horse's hoof

nose-pick
  • Offensive
1 8.6

Putting a finger inside your nose or a person who does this

Niemann-Pick disease
  • Specialized
9.8

A rare disease passed from parents that makes fat build up in the body's cells

pick mattock
  • Specialized
8.6

A tool with a pointed end and a flat blade for digging and breaking hard soil or rock

pick-mattock
  • Specialized
8.4

A hand tool with a pointed end and a flat blade for digging and breaking hard rocky soil

9.9

A girl who wants men's approval by putting herself or other women down

How Much

to reap
104 3.1
to harvest
84 1.6
to collect
499 1.1
to pick
1.0
to pluck
77 3.5

Surface Forms

pick infinitive
picked past
picked past participle
picking present participle
picks third person singular

Etymology

Pick used for gathering fruit comes from the idea of plucking with a small point or a finger, so to pick apples is to pull them off the tree by hand.