9 PHRASAL VERB If you pick up something, such as a feature or a pattern, you discover or identify it. □ [V P n] They were slow to pick up trends in consumer behaviour.
10 PHRASAL VERB If someone picks up a point or topic that has already been mentioned, or if they pick up on it, they refer to it or develop it. □ [V P n] Can I just pick up that gentleman's point? □ [V P P n] I'll pick up on what I said a couple of minutes ago. [Also V n P ]
11 PHRASAL VERB If trade or the economy of a country picks up , it improves. □ [V P ] Industrial production is beginning to pick up.
12 PHRASAL VERB If you pick someone up on something that they have said or done, you mention it and tell them that you think it is wrong. [mainly BRIT ] □ [V n P P n] …if I may pick you up on that point.
13 → see also pick-up
14 PHRASE When you pick up the pieces after a disaster, you do what you can to get the situation back to normal again. □ Do we try and prevent problems or do we try and pick up the pieces afterwards?
15 PHRASE When a vehicle picks up speed , it begins to move more quickly. □ Brian pulled away slowly, but picked up speed. SYNONYMS pick VERB 1
select: Voters are selecting candidates for both U.S. Senate seats and for 52 congressional seats.
choose: They will be able to choose their own leaders in democratic elections.
opt for: You may wish to opt for one method or the other.
pick|axe /p I kæks/ (pickaxes ) in AM, use pickax N‑COUNT A pickaxe is a large tool consisting of a curved, pointed piece of metal with a long handle joined to the middle. Pickaxes are used for breaking up rocks or the ground.
pick|er /p I kə r / (pickers ) N‑COUNT A fruit picker or cotton picker , for example, is a person who picks fruit or cotton, usually for money.
pick|et /p I k I t/ (pickets , picketing , picketed )
1 VERB When a group of people, usually trade union members, picket a place of work, they stand outside it in order to protest about something, to prevent people from going in, or to persuade the workers to join a strike. □ [V n] The miners went on strike and picketed the power stations. □ [V ] 100 union members and supporters picketed outside. ● N‑COUNT Picket is also a noun. □ …forty demonstrators who have set up a twenty-four-hour picket. ● pick|et|ing N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ of ] There was widespread picketing of mines where work was continuing.
2 N‑COUNT Pickets are people who are picketing a place of work. □ The strikers agreed to remove their pickets and hold talks with the government.
pi ck|et fence (picket fences ) N‑COUNT A picket fence is a fence made of pointed wooden sticks fixed into the ground, with pieces of wood nailed across them.
pi ck|et line (picket lines ) N‑COUNT A picket line is a group of pickets outside a place of work. □ No one tried to cross the picket lines.
pick|ings /p I k I ŋz/ N‑PLURAL You can refer to the money that can be made easily in a particular place or area of activity as the pickings . □ Traditional hiding places are easy pickings for experienced burglars.
pick|le /p I k ə l/ (pickles , pickling , pickled )
1 N‑PLURAL Pickles are vegetables or fruit, sometimes cut into pieces, which have been kept in vinegar or salt water for a long time so that they have a strong, sharp taste.
2 N‑VAR Pickle is a cold spicy sauce with pieces of vegetables and fruit in it. □ …jars of pickle.
3 VERB When you pickle food, you keep it in vinegar or salt water so that it does not go bad and it develops a strong, sharp taste. □ [V n] Select your favourite fruit or veg and pickle them while they are still fresh. ● pick|ling N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] □ Small pickling onions can be used instead of sliced ones.
pick|led /p I k ə ld/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] Pickled food, such as vegetables, fruit, and fish, has been kept in vinegar or salt water to preserve it. □ …a jar of pickled fruit.
pi ck-me-up (pick-me-ups ) N‑COUNT A pick-me-up is something that you have or do when you are tired or depressed in order to make you feel better. [INFORMAL ] □ This is an ideal New Year pick-me-up–a five-day holiday in the Bahamas.
pi ck 'n' mi x also pick and mix ADJ [ADJ n] Pick 'n' mix is used to describe a way of getting a collection of things together by choosing a number of different ones. [BRIT ] □ It is, as some senior officials conceded, a pick 'n' mix approach to policy. □ …a pick-and-mix selection of fabrics and wallpapers.
pick|pocket /p I kpɒk I t/ (pickpockets ) N‑COUNT A pickpocket is a person who steals things from people's pockets or bags in public places.
pi ck-up ◆◇◇ (pick-ups ) also pickup
1 N‑COUNT A pick-up or a pick-up truck is a small truck with low sides that can be easily loaded and unloaded.
2 N‑SING A pick-up in trade or in a country's economy is an improvement in it. □ [+ in ] …a pick-up in the housing market.
3 N‑COUNT [usu N n] A pick-up takes place when someone picks up a person or thing that is waiting to be collected. □ The company had pick-up points in most cities.
4 N‑COUNT When a pick-up takes place, someone talks to a person in a friendly way in the hope of having a casual sexual relationship with them. [INFORMAL ] □ They had come to the world's most famous pick-up joint.