pickup

Multiple Entries:
  pickup    pick  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pickup/ˈpɪkʌp/

▶noun

• 1 (also pickup truck) a small van or truck with low sides.

• 2 an act of picking up or collecting a person or goods.

• 3 an improvement, especially in an economy.

• 4 a device on an electric guitar which converts sound vibrations into electrical signals for amplification.

• 5 the cartridge of a record player, carrying the stylus.

• 6 Music a series of introductory notes leading into the opening part of a tune.

• 7 Fishing a semicircular loop of metal for guiding the line back on to the spool as it is reeled in.

▶adjective N. Amer. informal (of a game) informal and spontaneous.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pick1

▶verb

• 1 take hold of and remove (a flower or fruit) from where it is growing.

  ■ (often pick someone/thing up) take hold of and lift or move.

  ■ (pick up) Golf take hold of and lift up one's ball, especially when conceding a hole.

• 2 choose from a number of alternatives.

  ■ (pick one's way) walk slowly and carefully.

• 3 (often pick at) repeatedly pull at something with one's fingers.

  ■ eat in small amounts or without much appetite.

  ■ criticize someone in a niggling way.

• 4 remove unwanted matter from (one's nose or teeth) with a finger or a pointed instrument.

• 5 pluck the strings of (a guitar or banjo).

▶noun

• 1 an act or the right of selecting something.

  ■ (the pick of) informal the best person or thing in a particular group.

• 2 Basketball an act of blocking or screening a defensive player from the ball handler.

– phrases
pick and choose select only the best from among a number of alternatives.
pick someone's brains informal obtain information by questioning someone well informed.
pick a fight provoke an argument or fight.
pick holes in find fault with.
pick a lock open a lock with an instrument other than the proper key.
pick someone's pockets steal something surreptitiously from another person's pocket.
pick someone/thing to pieces (or apart) criticize someone or something severely.

– phrasal verbs
pick someone/thing off shoot a member of a group from a distance.
pick on repeatedly single out for unfair criticism or unkind treatment.
pick someone/thing out distinguish or select someone or something from a group.
pick something out highlight something by painting or fashioning in a contrasting colour or medium.
pick something over (or pick through) sort through a number of items carefully.
pick up improve or increase.
pick someone up

• 1 go somewhere to collect someone.

• 2 informal casually strike up a relationship with someone as a sexual overture.

• 3 return to a point or remark made by someone in order to criticize it.

pick something up

• 1 collect something that has been left elsewhere.

• 2 obtain, acquire, or learn something.

  ■ catch an illness or infection.

• 3 detect or receive a signal or sound.

• 4 resume something.

• 5 (also pick up on) refer to or develop a point or topic mentioned earlier.

  ■ become aware of or sensitive to something.

• 6 N. Amer. tidy a room or building.

– derivatives
pickable adjective,
picker noun.

– origin ME (orig. as pike): of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pick2

▶noun

• 1 a tool headed by a curved bar with a point at one end and a chisel edge or point at the other, used for breaking up hard ground or rock.

• 2 an instrument for picking.

  ■ informal a plectrum.

– origin ME: var. of pike2.