Library / English Dictionary

PICKING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of picking (crops or fruit or hops etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("picking" is a kind of...):

manual labor; manual labour (labor done with the hands)

Derivation:

pick (look for and gather)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quantity of a crop that is harvested

Example:

it was the biggest peach pick in years

Synonyms:

pick; picking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("picking" is a kind of...):

output; production; yield (the quantity of something (as a commodity) that is created (usually within a given period of time))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb pick

Credits

 Context examples: 

Skin findings arising from repeated rubbing, picking or scratching of a real or imagined irritation of the skin.

(Neurodermatitis, NCI Thesaurus)

For half an hour, Holmes worked with concentrated energy, laying down one tool, picking up another, handling each with the strength and delicacy of the trained mechanic.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“And I'll take this to square the count,” said I, picking up the oilskin packet.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Advanced algorithms were then used to tap into the data generated to work out where galaxies were picking up all their matter from.

(Half Our Body's Atoms Could Have Come from Outside The Galaxy, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

At last, in a pause, he glanced at the sun, measured its height above the horizon, and suggested his manuscripts by picking them up.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Kepler measurements of starlight infer the spin rate of a star by picking up small changes in its brightness.

(Kepler Watches Stellar Dancers in the Pleiades Cluster, NASA)

Here you are in your house, and me still picking my salt meat out of the harness cask.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“This is key enough for me!” quoth Hordle John, picking up the huge stone, and hurling it against the door with all the strength of his enormous body.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When it comes to handicapping a horse, playing a hand, matching a cock, or picking a man, he has the best judgment in England.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Having finished my task of gooseberry picking, I asked where the two ladies and their brother were now.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)