PICK

I. verb see: pike Date: 14th century transitive verb to pierce, penetrate, or break up with a pointed instrument , 2. to remove bit by bit , to remove covering or adhering matter from , 3. to gather by plucking , choose , select , to make (one's way) slowly and carefully , 4. pilfer , rob , to obtain useful information from by questioning, provoke , 6. to dig into ; probe , to pluck (as a guitar) with a ~ or with the fingers, to loosen or pull apart with a sharp point , to unlock with a device (as a wire) other than the key , intransitive verb to use or work with a ~, to gather or harvest something by plucking, pilfer , to eat sparingly or mincingly , II. noun Date: 15th century a blow or stroke with a pointed instrument, 2. the act or privilege of choosing or selecting ; choice , the best or choicest one , one that is ~ed , the portion of a crop gathered at one time , a screen in basketball, III. noun Etymology: Middle English pik Date: 14th century a heavy wooden-handled iron or steel tool pointed at one or both ends, 2. tooth~ , ~lock , a small thin piece (as of plastic or metal) used to pluck the strings of a stringed instrument, one of the points on the forepart of the blade of a skate used in figure skating, a comb with long widely spaced teeth used to give height to a hair style, IV. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English pykken to pitch (a tent); akin to Middle English picchen to pitch Date: 1523 to throw or thrust with effort ; hurl , to throw (a shuttle) across the loom, V. noun Date: 1627 1. dialect England the act of pitching or throwing, something thrown, 2. a throw of the shuttle, a filling thread