to pick
- verb
- /pɪk/
- The construction worker took a pick to break apart the concrete slab.
Examples
-
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Simenon pick up another rock.
Fiction book (1991) -
Unable to do so, they pick up their axes and slash desperately at the trunk.
Fiction book (1991) -
Men labored with the gleaming implements, picking at the mountain while overseers watched.
Fiction book (1992) -
The miners used their picks to dig deep into the rocky ground.
-
He picked at the surface of the soil with a pick to loosen it for planting.
Synonyms
To break off a small piece of an object
To rub material off a surface with something hard or sharp
To make a deep cut or hole in something with a sharp object
To shape wood or stone using a flat metal blade
Break a small piece from something by hitting or pressing it
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
To choose which problems to deal with instead of trying to solve every problem
- Informal
Challenge someone of similar size or strength instead of someone weaker
- Informal
To leave a group or activity because you do not get your way
Phrasal Verbs
- Informal
Choose only data that supports an idea and ignore data that disagrees
To start an earlier activity or conversation again after an interruption
- Specialized
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
- Informal
To ask someone for ideas or advice about something they know well
Compounds
- Specialized
A play where the pitcher or catcher throws quickly to tag a runner off base
- Specialized
A rare disease passed from parents that makes fat build up in the body's cells
- Specialized
A tool with a pointed end and a flat blade for digging and breaking hard soil or rock
- Specialized
A hand tool with a pointed end and a flat blade for digging and breaking hard rocky soil
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pick meaning to chip away at hard ground comes from using a pointed tool, like a pickaxe, so to pick at rock is to break it with sharp blows.