pick someone's brains see under pick¹

pick¹ /pik/

noun

1. A tool for breaking ground, rock, etc, with a head pointed at one end or both, and a handle of varying length fitted to the middle
2. A pointed hammer
3. An instrument of various kinds for picking
4. A plectrum
5. An act, opportunity, or right of choice
6. A portion picked
7. The best or choicest
8. Dirt on a printing type
9. A manoeuvre in which an attacker who does not have the ball obstructs a defender from challenging the ball-carrier (sport; N American)
10. A diamond in cards, also a spade (Scot and N Eng dialect)

transitive verb

1. To break up, dress or remove with a pick
2. To make with a pick or by plucking
3. To poke or pluck at, as with a sharp instrument or the nails
4. To pluck the strings of (a guitar, mandolin, etc)
5. To clear, remove, or gather by single small movements
6. To detach, extract, or take separately and lift or remove
7. To pluck
8. To pull apart
9. To cull
10. To choose
11. To select, esp one by one or bit by bit
12. To peck, bite, or nibble
13. To eat in small quantities or delicately
14. To open (eg a lock) by a sharp instrument or other unapproved means
15. To rifle by stealth
16. To seek and find a pretext for (eg a quarrel)

intransitive verb

1. To use a pick
2. To eat in small or delicate mouthfuls
3. To pilfer

picked /pikt/ adjective

1. Selected, hence the choicest or best
2. (of flowers or fruit) plucked
3. Exquisite, refined, punctilious (Shakespeare)
4. Having spines or prickles, sharp-pointed

pickˈedness noun

pickˈer noun

1. A person who picks or gathers up
2. A tool or machine for picking
3. Someone who removes defects from and finishes electrotype plates
4. A pilferer

pickˈery noun (Scots law)

Pilfering

pickˈing noun

1. The action of the verb to pick
2. The quantity picked
3. That which is left to be picked
4. Dabbing in stoneworking
5. The final finishing of woven fabrics by removing burs, etc
6. Removing defects from electrotype plates
7. (in pl) odd gains or perquisites

pickˈy adjective (informal)

1. Fussy or choosy, esp excessively so
2. Able to pick out or pick over dexterously

pickˈ-cheese noun

1. The blue or the great titmouse
2. The fruit of the mallow

picker-upˈ noun

A person who or machine or device that picks things up

pickˈlock noun

1. An instrument for picking or opening locks
2. A person who picks locks

pickˈ-me-up noun

1. A stimulating drink
2. A medicinal tonic
3. Anything that revivifies

pickˈ'n'mixˈ or pickˈ-and-mixˈ noun and adjective

1. (an assortment of loose sweets) chosen by the individual customer from a range of types available at a self-service counter
2. (a discriminatory selection) chosen to suit one's individual taste or needs (figurative)

pickˈoff noun

An electronic device that detects movement, used eg in an aircraft guidance system

pickˈpocket noun

Someone who picks or steals from other people's pockets

pickˈ-purse noun

Someone who steals the purse or from the purse of another

pickˈ-thank noun

Someone who seeks to ingratiate himself or herself by officious favours, or by tale-bearing

pickˈ-tooth noun

A toothpick

pickˈ-up noun

1. An act of picking up
2. Reception
3. A stop to collect something or someone
4. A recovery
5. An improvement
6. Something picked up
7. Accelerating power
8. A device for picking up an electric current
9. (also pick-up head) a transducer, activated by a sapphire or diamond stylus following the groove on a gramophone record, which transforms the mechanical into electrical impulses
10. A transducer on an electric musical instrument
11. (also pick-up truck) a light motor vehicle with the front of a saloon car and the rear in the form of a small truck
12. A man's chance, informal acquaintance with a woman, or vice versa, usu implying a sexual relationship
13. The woman or man in such a relationship
14. A game, or a team, for which the captains pick their players alternately from a single group or squad

adjective

1. For picking up
2. Picked up

pick-your-ownˈ noun

1. A method of selling fruit or vegetables by which private customers pick the produce they wish to buy at the place where it is grown
2. Produce sold in this way

adjective

Sold or operating by this system

pick a hole in someone's coat

To find fault with someone

pick at

1. To find fault with
2. To nibble food without enthusiasm
3. To poke at and detach pieces from, using the fingernails, etc

pick holes in

To find fault with

pick oakum

To make oakum by untwisting old ropes

pick off

1. To kill selectively, or one by one, by shooting with great accuracy, usu from a distance
2. To detach and remove

pick on

1. To single out, esp for anything unpleasant
2. To nag at
3. To carp at

pick one's way

To choose carefully where to put one's feet, as (or as if) on dirty or dangerous ground

pick out

1. To make out, distinguish
2. To pluck out
3. To select from a number
4. To play (a tune, etc) uncertainly
5. To mark with spots of colour, etc

pick over

To go over and select

pick someone's brains

To make use of another's brains or ideas for one's own ends

pick to pieces

1. To pull apart
2. To criticize adversely in detail

pick up

1. To lift from the ground or floor
2. To improve gradually
3. To gain strength bit by bit
4. To answer a telephone
5. To take into a vehicle, or into one's company
6. To scrape acquaintance informally with, esp of a man with a woman
7. To acquire by chance
8. To gain
9. To come upon, make out, distinguish (eg a signal, a track, a comet, etc)

pick up on (informal)

1. To notice and react to
2. To point out an error

pick up the pieces

To restore (esp emotional) matters to their former equilibrium after they have been brought to disarray or collapse