picking
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
picking
Noun[edit]
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, Via Crucis, ch. 9:
- Gilbert wandered through . . .the haunts of ravenous dogs and homeless cats that kept themselves alive on the choice pickings of the city's garbage.
- 1899, F. Marion Crawford, Via Crucis, ch. 9:
- (usually pluralized) Income or other gains, especially if obtained in a unscrupulous or objectionable manner.
- 1919, Anthony Hope, The Secret of the Tower, ch. 11:
- He liked the pickings which the job brought him much better than the job itself.
- 1919, Anthony Hope, The Secret of the Tower, ch. 11:
Synonyms[edit]
- (items remaining after others have selected the best): leftovers
- (unscrupulously acquired gains): For semantic relationships of this sense, see booty in the Thesaurus.
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from picking