1. (v.) To throw; to pitch.

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

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

5. (v.) 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. (v.) 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.

7. (v.) 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.

8. (v.) 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. (v.) To trim.

10. (v. i.) To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.

11. (v. i.) To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.

12. (v. i.) To steal; to pilfer.

13. (n.) A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.

14. (n.) 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, road makers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.

15. (n.) A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.

16. (n.) Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick.

17. (n.) That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick of the flock.

18. (n.) 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.

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

20. (n.) 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.

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