to pick
- verb
- /pษชk/
- 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 rub material off a surface with something hard or sharp
To break off a small piece of an object
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
Challenge someone of similar size or strength instead of someone weaker
- Informal
To choose which problems to deal with instead of trying to solve every problem
- Informal
To leave a group or activity because you do not get your way
Phrasal Verbs
- Informal
To ask someone for ideas or advice about something they know well
- Informal
Choose only data that supports an idea and ignore data that disagrees
To start an earlier activity or conversation again after an interruption
Touching scabs again and again so they do not heal, sometimes meaning you reopen old hurts
- Specialized
To copy one change from a code branch into another without copying other changes
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.