| 释义 |
unˈpick, v.
Also 4–5 -pike, -pyke.
[un-2 9.]
†1. trans. To pick (a lock); to undo (a door) in this way. Also fig. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 368 Atte laste I stale it, Or pryuiliche his purse shoke, vnpiked his lokkes. 1390Gower Conf. II. 347 Ek fulofte he goth a nyht..And with his craft the dore unpiketh. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1103 (MS. Reg. 17, D v 1), He dremethe theves come in, And on his coffres knokke,..And som of hem unpyke withe a sotelle gynne. 1433Lydg. St. Edmund iii. 1201 Another [thief] besy..To vnpyke lokys. a1661Fuller Worthies, Kent ii. (1662) 76 Cunning his hands, who could unpick the Cabinets in the Popes Conclave.
2. To undo the sewing of (a garment, etc.); to take out (stitches). Also in fig. context.
[1775Ash.] 1808Jane Austen Let. 7 Oct. (1932) I. 217 Your gown shall be unpicked. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. x. ⁋14, I unpicked his pillow, where I found..fifty crowns. 1842Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets iii. Wks. (1904) 612 Was it not enough..that he was turned once, like her own cast imperial mantle,..but that he must be unpicked again by Eudocia..? 1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. vii, Ethel sat down..and began to assist in unpicking the merino.
absol.1890N. & Q. 5 July 12/2 While we boys ‘unpicked’, the bigger girls would sew the patchwork covers. |