PICKET


Meaning of PICKET in English

/ ˈpɪkɪt; NAmE / noun , verb

■ noun

1.

a person or group of people who stand outside the entrance to a building in order to protest about sth, especially in order to stop people from entering a factory, etc. during a strike; an occasion at which this happens :

Five pickets were arrested by police.

I was on picket duty at the time.

a mass picket of the factory

—see also flying picket , picketer

2.

a soldier or group of soldiers guarding a military base

3.

a pointed piece of wood that is fixed in the ground, especially as part of a fence :

a picket fence

—picture at house

■ verb

to stand outside somewhere such as your place of work to protest about sth or to try and persuade people to join a strike :

[ vn ]

200 workers were picketing the factory.

[ v ]

Striking workers picketed outside the gates.

••

WORD ORIGIN

late 17th cent. (denoting a pointed stake, on which a soldier was required to stand on one foot as a military punishment): from French piquet pointed stake, from piquer to prick, from pic pike.

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.