pick of the litter
5
3.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
la mejor opción
- After reviewing all the candidates, Sarah was undoubtedly the pick of the litter for the team.
- get the pick of the litter
- Here's the pick of the litter
Examples
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If money were no object and you could have your pick of the litter, which house would you want to live in?
Blog text (28) -
I had my pick of the litter, but I settled for one near where my wife and son stopped to get pizza.
Blog text (28) -
Wow, I bet you two were the pick of the litter.
-
You got your pick of the litter out there.
-
Guys who can, they get their pick of the litter.
-
You had the pick of the litter.
-
Sweet thing like you ought to have the pick of the litter.
-
You got the pick of the litter, all right.
Fiction book (1994) -
Well, sweetheart, you got your pick of the litter.
-
I'll give you the pick of the litter.
Synonyms
712
1.0
A person or thing you like more than others
7
3.4
The very best people or things in a group
3
3.0
The person or thing that is better than all others in a group
1
3.9
The person most preferred for a job or role
A person who is the best or most admired in a group
Antonyms
How Desirable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'pick' (a choice or selection) + 'litter' (a group of young animals) so 'pick of the litter' straightforwardly denotes the chosen or best from a group. The syntactic pattern 'pick of the X' transparently signals selection, and a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the idiomatic extension to mean the most desirable member.
Etymology
Pick of the litter comes from animal breeders who chose the strongest puppy from a litter, the group of newborn animals. The pick was the chosen puppy, so the phrase now means the 'best' or most wanted person or thing in a group.