Pick , n. [F. pic a pickax, a pick. See Pick, and cf. Pike.]

1. A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.

2. (Mining & Mech.) A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, -- used by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.

3. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler. [Obs.] "Take down my buckler . . . and grind the pick on \t." Beau. & Fl.

"4. Choice; right of selection; as, to have ones pick."

France and Russia have the pick of our stables. Ld. Lytton.

5. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick of the flock.

6. (Print.) A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet. MacKellar.

7. (Painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.

8. (Weawing) The blow which drives the shuttle, -- the rate of speed of a loom being reckoned as so many picks per minute; hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread; as, so many picks to an inch.

Pick dressing (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions. -- Pick hammer, a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.

Pick (?), v. i.

1.To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.

"Why standst thou picking? Is thy palate sore?" Dryden.

2. To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.

3. To steal; to pilfer. "To keep my hands from picking and stealing." Book of Com. Prayer.

To pick up, to improve by degrees; as, he is picking up in health or business. [Colloq. U.S.]

Pick (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picked (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Picking.] [OE. picken, pikken, to prick, peck; akin to Icel. pikka, Sw. picka, Dan. pikke, D. pikken, G. picken, F. piquer, W. pigo. Cf. Peck, v., Pike, Pitch to throw.]

1. To throw; to pitch. [Obs.]

As high as I could pick my lance. Shak.

2. To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.

3. To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.

4. To open (a lock) as by a wire.

5. To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck; to gather, as fruit from a tree, flowers from the stalk, feathers from a fowl, etc.

6. To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth; as, to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket.

"Did you pick Master Slenders purse?" Shak.

He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet. Cowper.

7. To choose; to select; to separate as choice or desirable; to cull; as, to pick one\s company; to pick one\s way; -- often with out. "One man picked out of ten thousand." Shak.

8. To take up; esp., to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together; as, to pick rags; -- often with up; as, to pick up a ball or stones; to pick up information.

9. To trim. [Obs.] Chaucer.

"To pick at, to tease or vex by pertinacious annoyance. -- To pick a bone with. See under Bone. -- To pick a thank, to curry favor. [Obs.] Robynson (Mores Utopia). -- To pick off. (a) To pluck; to remove by picking. (b) To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy. -- To pick out. (a) To mark out; to variegate; as, to pick out any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors. (b) To select from a number or quantity. -- To pick to pieces, to pull apart piece by piece; hence [Colloq.], to analyze; esp., to criticize in detail. -- To pick a quarrel, to give occasion of quarrel intentionally. -- To pick up. (a) To take up, as with the fingers. (b) To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news."

-- Webster's unabridged 1913