■ noun
1》 a person or group of people standing outside a workplace trying to persuade others not to enter during a strike.
2》 (also picquet or piquet ) a soldier or small body of troops sent out to watch for the enemy.
3》 [usu. as modifier ] a pointed wooden stake driven into the ground to form a fence or to tether a horse.
■ verb ( ~s , ~ing , ~ed ) act as a ~ outside (a workplace).
Derivatives
~er noun
Origin
C17 (denoting a pointed stake, on which a soldier was required to stand on one foot as a military punishment): from Fr. piquet 'pointed stake'.