picking

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪkɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪkɪŋ

Verb

picking

1. present participle of pick

Noun

picking (plural pickings)

1. A gathering to pick fruit.

   We went to a strawberry picking last June.

2. (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.

3. (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.

Synonyms

• (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

Terms derived from picking

• cotton-picking
• easy pickings

• in the picking
• nit-picking

• slim pickings