to pick
- verb
- /pɪk/
- l caught him picking my pocket.
Watch your face fucking burn while a monkey sneaks up and picks your pocket.
- Watch your face fucking burn while a monkey sneaks up and picks your pocket.
Examples
-
Twice somebody stepped on her foot; once somebody tried to pick her pocket.
Fiction book (1990) -
I stole a hairpin and picked the lock, baby.
-
I got my pocket picked of seven hundred dollars in Vegas some years ago.
Fiction book (1993) -
So the government is playing all of these tricks to make sure that they pick your pocket, whether it's explicitly or implicitly.
-
I pick-pocketed a key off this apparatchik.
-
"Them you wearing will do nicely," Silas added on his way to pick the dead man's pockets.
Fiction book (1996) -
A drunkard and a coward, he thought, ready to pick a man's pocket or slit his throat.
Fiction book (1998) -
I caught him picking my pocket at the crowded market.
-
The thief was arrested after picking the man's pocket in broad daylight.
-
She warned her friend not to leave his wallet unattended, as someone might be picking pockets nearby.
Synonyms
Take something that does not belong to you without permission
To steal something quickly without the owner knowing
To take something quickly without the owner noticing
To hide something quickly in a small bag sewn into your clothing
To steal something quickly or secretly
To steal something secretly from a shop or person
Take something without permission, often quickly
To steal small things of little value, often a little at a time
Steal things, for example electronics or cars
To steal something secretly or dishonestly
To steal a small thing quietly when no one is looking
To steal something, especially quickly in a crowded place
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 Violent
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pick meaning to steal from pockets comes from the idea of plucking something out quickly and quietly, so a thief who picks pockets takes items without people noticing.