\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 Slender's 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 (More's
   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.

\Pick\, v. i.
1. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
   Why stand'st 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\, 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 one's 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.