from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Pick \Pick\, n. [F. pic a pickax, a pick. See {Pick}, and cf.
{Pike}.]
1. A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in
composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.
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2. (Mining & Mech.) A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes
pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle
inserted in the middle, -- used for digging ino the ground
by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer
used for dressing millstones.
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3. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a
buckler. [Obs.] "Take down my buckler . . . and grind the
pick on 't." --Beau. & Fl.
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4. Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick; in cat
breeding, the owner of a stud gets the pick of the litter.
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France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
--Ld. Lytton.
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5. Hence: That which would be picked or chosen first; the
best; as, the pick of the flock.
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6. (Print.) 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. --MacKellar.
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7. (Painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed
pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
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8. (Weaving) 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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{Pick dressing} (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a
pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or
depressions.
{Pick hammer}, a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt,
used by miners.
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