pick 
i IT:; 
I Udone, without redemption, he eats with picki. pickai, pickaxe (pik'aks). n. [A corruption, 
1'iiti'iur, Monsieur Thomas, 1. 2. s i mu i a t m g a compound of pick 1 + ax 1 , of ME. 
(e) A four-tlned eel-spear with a long handle. [Prov. Eng.] pikeys, pikois, pykeys,<. OF.picois, pikois, 1 i "(X 
2f. A pike or spike ; the sharp point fixed in the 
miter of a buckler. 
Take down my buckler, 
And sweep the cobwebs oil, and grind the pick on 't. 
Beau, and Fl., Cupid's Ecvenge, IT. 3. 
3f. The diamond on a playing-card : so called 
from the point. Dacii-x. 
Throughout that brave mosalck yard, 
Those pick* or diamonds in the card, 
U itli in i p.s of harts, of club, and spade, 
Are here most neatly Interlaid. 
Hrrrick, Oberon's Palace. 
4. An instrument for picking a lock; a pii'k- 
lock.-5. The 
J 
Ward-lock with Key and Picks. 
a, key; b, instrument for taking im- 
. nf the wards; c and d, picks or 
false keys, otherwise called picklocks. 
These picklocks are made to enter the 
lock, the maker being guided by the im- 
pression of the wards on a coating of wax 
spread on the Hat blade of b. 
/>ii/i!<>ix, picquois, a pickax, also a goad, a dart, 
< piquer, pick, prick, pierce, < pic, a pick, pike : 
see pick 1 , pAtt.] A 
pick, especially one 
with a sharp point on 
one side of the head 
and a broad blade on 
the other. The pointed 
end Is used for loosening 
hard earth, and the other 
for cutting the roots of 
trees. See also cuts under 
111 hide my master from 
the flies, as deep 
As these poor pickaxes can 
dig. 
Shale., Cymbellne, iv. 2. 
tit 
pickback, adv. See 
pickcheese (pik'chez), w. [Prob. imitative.] 
1. The blue titmouse, 1'arus cteruleus. [Nor- 
folk, Eng.] 2. The fruit of the common mal- 
low. Compare cheese-cake, 3. [Prov. Eng.] 
Pitch-dark; quite dark. Hol- 
pickerel 
huhe let. MLG. II<I.I/IIHI-I- = Sw. t ,i, -h-lh i, I'm 
Dan. pi/:!.,/!,!,,, <<:.),< MI Hi. <!. bed**, a ba- 
sin, + haulm, cap: see battin and 7w>e, and cf. 
hn.tiiifi.] A kind of helmet formerly worn by 
arquebusiers, pikemen, etc. : the helmet in 
in the present Prussian army is popularly called 
lliinilir. 
A similar helmet has been recently adopt- 
ed by some Infantry organizations In the United .States and 
elsewhere. It Is round-topped, and has a sharp spear-head 
projecting at the top. 
picker (pik'er), . 1. One who picks, culls. 
collects, or gathers: as, a ng-picker; a hop- 
Pickax or Pick-mattock. 
a and t>, steel extremities welded to 
the iron ; t, handle. 
This loom, fitted with Hattersley's patent heald machine. 
can be worked at a speed of 120 pw* per minute, the speed 
of the old loom for the same purpose being about iSpickt 
per minute. Un, Diet, IV. 998. 
7. In painting, that which is picked in, either 
with a point or with a pointed pencil. 8. In 
the harvesting of hops, cotton, coffee, berries, 
etc. , in which the work is usually done by hand- 
picking, the quantity of the article which 
wit, Limona lap- 
/iiniira : from its 
habit of probing 
for food. Also 
prine. [Norfolk, 
Eng.] 6. In 
wcarin</,t}ie blow 
which drives the 
shuttle. It Is de- 
livered upon the 
end of the shuttle 
by the picker-head - -- 
at the extremity of pick-devantt, . Same as pike-devant. 
theplcker staff. The picked 1 (pik'ed), a. ft pick 1 , n., + -ed 2 . Cf. 
equiv. piked, of which picked is but another 
form. Cf. also peaked 1 .] 1. Having a sharp 
point; pointed; piked; peaked: as, a picked 
stick. [Obsolete or U. S. (New England).] 
Their caps are picked like vnto a rike or diamond, broad 
beneath, and sharpe vpward. llaHuyt's Voyages, I. 255. 
His beard, which he wore a little picked, as the mode 
was, of a brownish colour. Evelyn, Diary (162S\ p. S. 
2. Covered with sharp points: prickly; spi- 
nous; echinate: as, the picked dogfish. picked 
dogfish, Squalus acanthias or Acanthias vulgaris, a small 
shark common in British waters: so named from the 
O'er twice three piekert, and no more, extend 
The bin-man ' sway. Smart, The Hop Garden, II. 
2. The workman who removes defects t'n >m 
and finishes electrotype plates. 3. A tool or 
apparatus used in different manufacturing pro- 
cesses involving picking of some sort, (a) In eot- 
tiiii-mannf., a machine for opening the tussocks of balc- 
rate 
to be so man; 
per minute. 
is 
picked or gathered, or which can be gathered 
or picked, in a specified time : as, the daily pick; _ ^ ........ ---- .__ -- 
tbepifkot last year. 9. In printing, foul mat- picked 2 (pikt), p. a. [Pp. of <*!, v.] 
ter which collects on printing-types from the 
rollers or from the paper impressed ; also, a 
prickly or spinous skin; also caUed^bone-dog^skMle-dog, 
hoe, etc. In '* 
:ed 2 (P ._-., 
cially selected; hence, choicest or best: as, 
In the United States called simply dogfish. 
1. Spe- 
bit of metal improperly attached to the face of 
stereotype or electrotype plates, which has to 
be removed by the finisher. 10. The right of 
selection ; first choice ; hence, the choicest ; the 
most desirable specimens or examples. 
France and Russia have the pick of our stables. 
Bulwer, What will he do with It? vil. 7. 
We had bad luck with horses this day, however, two or 
three travellers having been In advance and had the pick. 
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 44. 
Pick and pick, In weaving, by or In alternate picks ; even- 
ly variegated, as the colon of a fabric. 
picked men. 
A playne tale of faith you laugh at, a jricktd discourse 
of fancie you meruayle at. 
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 353. 
Ferdinand, on the approach of the enemy, had thrown 
a thousand picked men into the place. 
Pretcott, Ferd. and Isa., U. IS. 
2f. Choice; affected; refined. 
Certain quaint, pickt, and neat companions, attired a 
la mode de France. Ureene, Def. of C. Catching. (Kares.) 
He Is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, as it 
were, too peregrinate, as I may call It 
Shale., L L L., v. 1. 14. 
. Is got out of twelve bars or threads pickedevantt, n. See pike-devant. 
ur In the filling ; the warp Is eight of pickedlyt (pik'ed-li), adv. [< picked 2 
A fine stripe . 
In the warp and fou 
black and four of white, the filling is fide and pick, black Choicely neatlv finelv 
A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 318. "I 
To 
and white. 
The pick of the basket. See basket. 
pick-t (pik), '. t. [An obs. var. of pitch 1 .] 
pitch ; throw. 
I Id make a iiuarry 
With thousands of these quarler'd slaves, as high 
As I could pick my lance. Shak., Cor., L 1. 204. 
pick 3 (pik), n. A dialectal form of pitch 2 . 
Tin i' dark the night as pick and tar, 
I'll guide ye o'er yon hills fu' hie. 
Hobie Noble (Child's Ballads, VI. 100). 
pick 4 t (pik), r. i. An obsolete form otpeak%. 
I must hasten it, 
Or else pick a' famine. 
Middleton, Chaste Maid, I. 1. 
pick 5 (pik), . [Short for pickerel.] A pike or 
pickerel. [U. S.] 
pickaback, pickback (pik'a-bak, pik'bak), 
itdr. [Var. of pickapack, pickpack, simulating 
hack 1 .] On the back or shoulders like a pack. 
[Colloq.] 
For, as our modern wits behold, 
Mounted a pick-back on the old, 
Much further off, much further he, 
Rjiis'd on his aged beast, could see. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, 
pickable (pik'a-bl), a. 
pable of being picked. 
pickadilt, pickadillt, . 
pickaget, ". See pici-n</r. 
pickaninny,". Soe /'<< 
pickapack, pickpack (pik'a-pnk. pik'puk). 
adv. [</>!, c., + oty.pack.] Same as />/</.- 
uliiicl:. 
[< jm*l + -able.] 
Seepiccadiii. 
II. 72. 
Ca- 
Nor be the! so trymme nor so pickedly attired as the 
other be. The Table of Cebet, by Poyngs. (Naret.) 
pickedness 1 (pik'ed-nes), n. [< picked 1 + 
-ness.] The state of being pointed at the end. 
pickedness -t (pik'ed-nes), n. [< picked? + 
-ness.] Refinement; affectation. 
Too much pickedness Is not manly. 
B. Jonson, Discoveries. 
pickeert (pi-ker'), v. i. [Also piqueer; with ac- 
com. term -cer; earlier picquor; <OF.(andF.) 
picorer, forage, maraud : seepickery.] To serve 
in irregular or skirmishing warfare ; form part 
of a body of skirmishers acting in the front or 
on the wings of an army, or independently, as 
foragers, etc. ; act as a skirmisher. 
Y' 1 garrison w tn some commons and the scotch horse 
pifqtiorituj a while close by the walls on the east. 
Tttuie's Narrative of the Siege of Carlisle, p. 6. (Balliuiell.) 
So within shot she doth pickeer, 
Now galls the flank, and now the rear. 
Lovelace, Lucasta, II. 
Tiridates on his side pickeered about, yet never ap- 
proached within throw of a dart. 
Gordon, tr. of Tacitus s Annals, xill. 
pickeerert (pi-ker'er), n. [Also pickearer, pi- 
ijit>i-rcr,picquerer; < pickeer + -eA.] One who 
pickeers; a skirmisher; hence, by extension, a 
plunderer. 
The club pickearer, the robust churchwarden. 
F leteher, Poems, p. 190. (IlaUitcetl.) 
This I shall do as in other concerns of this history, by 
following the author's steps, for he is now a pi&ritrrer, re- 
lates nothing but by way of cavil. 
Roger Xorth, Examen, p. 406. (Davies.) 
Picker used in Cotton-manufacture. 
a, wooden drum having rows of iron spikes alternating on its cir- 
cumference with upright iron ridges e. f, f, which prevent the cotton 
from passing through the machine too rapidly ; d, rf, wooden lid cov- 
ering the drum ; r, wire gauze covering in the tower part of the drum ; 
r 1 , opening through whidl the clean cotton is removed ; /, feed-cloth ; 
*, /, grooved nipping-rollers; fr, pulley. 
cotton, reducing It to a more fleecy condition, and sepa- 
rating itfrom dirt and refuse, (ft) A priming-wire for clean- 
ing the vent of a gun : usually applied to that used for 
muskets, (c) In the manage, an instrument fordislodglng 
a stone from the crease between the frog and the sole of a 
horse's foot, or between the heel of the shoe and the frog, 
(if) In founding, a light steel rod with a very sharp point, 
used for picking out small light patterns from the sand, (e) 
Inweaving, the part of a picker-staff which strikes the shut- 
tle : It Is covered with a material not so hard as to Injure the 
shuttle, and yet durable, such as rawhide. (/) A utensil 
for cleaning out small openings : thus, the powder-flasks 
of the sixteenth century were fitted with pickers to clear 
the tube, and lamps of both antique and modern make are 
often fitted with a picker hung by a chain. <:/) A needle- 
like instrument used by anglers or fly-tiers in the manufac- 
ture of flies. (A) A machine for picking fibrous materials 
to pieces : as, a wool-jnVArr. (i) In certain machines for 
disintegrating fire-clay for making fire-bricks, either one 
of two horizontal shafts armed with spike-like teeth which 
revolve in opposite directions, acting jointly to tear, break, 
and disintegrate the lumps of raw clay fed to them through 
a hopper. 
4. One who or that which steals; a pilferer. 
If he be a picker or a cut-purse, . . . the second tune he 
Is taken he hath a piece of his Nose cut off. 
Uakluyt'i Voyages, I. 241. 
Rot. My lord, you once did love me. 
llain. So I do still, by these mckerg and stealers. 
Shalt, Hamlet, UL 2. 848. 
5. A young cod, Gadus morrhua, too small to 
swallow bait. [Cape Ann, Massachusetts.] 
picker-bar (pik'er-bfir), . See mecJianicalstoker. 
under stoker. 
picker-bend (pik'er-bend), . A piece of buf- 
falo-hide, lined but not otherwise dressed, at- 
tached to the shuttle by power-loom weavers, 
pickerel (pik'e-rel), n. [Formerly also pickrell ; 
< ME.pikerel, 'pykerel; <pike^ + -er + -el, double 
dim. as in cockerel. Cf. OF. picarel, "the small 
and white cockerel fish " (Cotgrave).] If. A 
small or young pike, Esox luciua. 
Old flssh and yonge flessh wolde I ban fain, 
Bet Is, quod he, a pyk than a pykerel, 
And bet than olde boef is the tendre veel. 
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 176. 
When as the hungry nickertll doth approach. 
Mir. for Magi., 302. (Sores.) 
2. A kind of pike: so called in the United States. 
The common pickerel of North America is Esox reticu- 
latu*. It has scaly cheeks and operates, and from four- 
teen to sixteen branch lostegal rays; the color is green- 
, pickelhaub (pik'el-houb), n. [G. pickelhaubf. 
In a hurry she whips up her darling under her arms, and l"""^-" , S, , j.- i 71 i: i _ii 
carries the other a pickapack upon her shoulders. ' irl ' r l*ckethaube, bickelhaube, bechclu,,,!,, . 
Sir R. L'Ettrange. MHGr.peekflhiibe, beckelhube, beckenhube, beclttn- 
Comnton Pond-pickerel Esox retifiilatu- . 
Ish, relieved by narrow dark lines in reticulated pattern. 
It ranges from Maine to the Mississippi, and is the com- 
monest fish of the kind. The vermicnlated pickerel, E. 
termiculatut, has scaly cheeks and opercles, and about 
twelve branch iostegals, and the color is greenish with 
