/pik"up'/ , n.
1. an improvement, as in health, business conditions, work, production, etc.
2. Informal. pick-me-up.
3. Informal. a casual, usually unintroduced acquaintance, often one made in hope of a sexual relationship.
4. an instance of stopping for or taking aboard passengers or freight, as by a train, ship, taxicab, etc., esp. an instance of taking freight or a shipment of goods onto a truck.
5. the person, freight, or shipment so taken aboard: The cab driver had a pickup at the airport who wanted to be driven to the docks.
6. Auto.
a. capacity for rapid acceleration.
b. acceleration; increase in speed.
c. Also called pickup truck . a small truck with a low-sided open body, used for deliveries and light hauling.
7. Baseball. the act of fielding a ball after it hits the ground.
8. Also called cartridge . a small device attached to the end of a phonograph tone arm that contains a stylus and the mechanism that translates the movement of the stylus in a record groove into a changing electrical voltage.
9. Radio.
a. the act of receiving sound waves in the transmitting set in order to change them into electrical waves.
b. a receiving or recording device.
c. the place from which a broadcast is being transmitted.
d. interference (def. 4).
10. Television.
a. the change of light energy into electrical energy in a television camera.
b. See camera tube .
c. a telecast made directly from the scene of an action.
11. a hitchhiker.
12. Metalworking. (in the cold-drawing of metal) the adhesion of particles of the metal to the die or plug.
adj.
13. composed of or employing whatever persons are available on a more or less impromptu basis: a pickup game of baseball; a pickup dance band.
14. using whatever ingredients are handy or available: a Sunday night pickup supper.
[ 1855-60; n. use of v. phrase pick up ]