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Glite Dictionary
🛒 To collect or buy 🧠 To learn or notice 📦 To lift 📈 To improve 💘 To meet romantically 🚓 To arrest 💳 To pay 🐦 To eat small bits 🎨 To match visually
to pick up

to pick up

∞ 2.5
To get something from a store or give someone a ride
  • phrasal verb
  • /pɪk ʌp/
translation icon : recoger
  • I just got downtown and picked up some flowers.
  • come pick up
  • pick up materials
  • mother picks up children

And then my mom also picked up this for me.

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Examples

  • Now I am going to pick up my dry cleaning.

  • Do you guys think you guys could like pick me up from church Tuesday night?

    LOL Podcast

  • Oh, Michael picked us up a sweet ride.

  • There was a couple coming to pick him up in just an hour.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Remember, her mother comes to pick her up every day after school, just like your mother does.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Oh, I got to go pick up my kids from soccer.

    1242: Gateway to the West (2025)

  • Did you pick up your dress for the premiere?

    Broken City (2013)

  • They'll pick you up and you can all drive up together.

    The China Syndrome (1979)

  • He was supposed to pick me up after a lecture at UCLA.

    Double Indemnity (1944)

  • Can you pick up the groceries on your way home from work?

Synonyms

to grab
vsto pick up
∞ 1.0

To take hold of something quickly with your hand

is a more casual action done while passing by, not only a quick hand movement
to collect
vsto pick up
499 1.1

To bring things or people together in one place

is done casually often while doing other activities
to take up
vsto pick up
56 2.0

To lift something up, often with a spoon or tool

is a broader action including buying or giving someone a ride beyond lifting
to scoop up
vsto pick up
47 2.8

To lift or pick up something quickly with your hand

is more general and can involve buying items or giving someone a ride
to gather up
vsto pick up
43 2.1

Bring things together by picking them up with your hands

is more casual and also includes giving someone a ride sometimes
to get hold of
vsto pick up
24 2.5

To take something in your hand

is a casual action often done while passing by or running errands
to snatch up
vsto pick up
24 4.6

To grab something quickly, often before someone else

is a casual often unplanned acquisition rather than sudden forceful taking
to snap up
vsto pick up
14 3.7

Buy something quickly before other people do

is a casual acquisition that may happen without urgency or eagerness
to swoop up
vsto pick up
1 4.2

Pick something up quickly by moving down fast

is a casual gathering action rather than a sudden forceful seizure

Antonyms

to abandon
773 3.1

Leave someone or something behind permanently and without care

to leave behind
604 2.6

To go away from a place without taking someone or something with you

How Much

to hoard
45 4.8
to amass
66 4.8
to accumulate
174 3.4
to pull in
12 3.6
to collect
499 1.1
to pick up
∞ 2.5

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

pick + up

The police sense 'to take someone into custody' is a pragmatic extension of the basic, transparent meaning 'pick up' = 'collect/take someone' (pick + up). However, the specific legal sense 'arrest' is a specialised interpretation that is not fully predictable from the parts alone and typically requires contextual or cultural knowledge, so it is only partially transparent to learners.

Etymology

Pick up for collecting or giving a ride comes from the idea of stopping to take things or people into your hands or car as you pass by, like grabbing bread from a shop or stopping to lift someone into your car. That's why it now means 'to get or collect something' or 'to give someone a ride'.