picking
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
Verb
picking
- present participle and gerund of pick
Noun
picking (plural pickings)
- A gathering to pick fruit.
- We went to a strawberry picking last June.
- (usually pluralized) Items remaining after others have selected the best; scraps, as of food.
- 1899, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 9, in Via Crucis:
- Gilbert wandered through . . .the haunts of ravenous dogs and homeless cats that kept themselves alive on the choice pickings of the city's garbage.
- (usually pluralized) Income or other gains, especially if obtained in an unscrupulous or objectionable manner.
- easy pickings, rich pickings
- 1919, Anthony Hope, chapter 11, in The Secret of the Tower:
- He liked the pickings which the job brought him much better than the job itself.
- Something picked or pulled out.
- The schoolboy flicked his nose pickings across the classroom.
- The act of making a choice; selection.
- The final finishing of woven fabrics by removing burs, etc.
- The removal of defects from electrotype plates.
- Dabbing in stoneworking.
Synonyms
- (items remaining after others have selected the best): leftovers
- (unscrupulously acquired gains): See Thesaurus:booty
Derived terms
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