Definition of Pick up

1. Verb. Take and lift upward.

Exact synonyms: Gather Up, Lift Up
Generic synonyms: Bring Up, Elevate, Get Up, Lift, Raise

2. Verb. Take up by hand. "He picked up the book and started to read"
Generic synonyms: Touch

3. Verb. Give a passenger or a hitchhiker a lift. "We picked up a hitchhiker on the highway"
Generic synonyms: Transport
Derivative terms: Pickup

4. Verb. Gather or collect. "They pick up our trash twice a week"
Exact synonyms: Call For, Collect, Gather Up
Generic synonyms: Acquire, Get
Derivative terms: Pickup

5. Verb. Get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally. "They pick up that there was a traffic accident "; "I see that you have been promoted"
Exact synonyms: Discover, Find Out, Get A Line, Get Wind, Get Word, Hear, Learn, See
Specialized synonyms: Get The Goods, Wise Up, Catch, Trip Up, Ascertain, Discover, Find
Related verbs: Find, See, Witness
Derivative terms: Discovery, Discovery, Discovery

6. Verb. Get in addition, as an increase. "The candidate picked up thousands of votes after his visit to the nursing home"
Generic synonyms: Acquire, Get

7. Verb. Take into custody. "The police nabbed the suspected criminals"
Exact synonyms: Apprehend, Arrest, Collar, Cop, Nab, Nail
Generic synonyms: Clutch, Prehend, Seize
Derivative terms: Apprehender, Apprehension, Arrest, Collar, Cop, Pickup

8. Verb. Buy casually or spontaneously. "The men pick up the chairs"; "I picked up some food for a snack"
Category relationships: Commerce, Commercialism, Mercantilism
Generic synonyms: Buy, Purchase
Derivative terms: Pickup

9. Verb. Register (perceptual input). "They pick up the information to them"; "Pick up a signal"
Exact synonyms: Receive
Generic synonyms: Comprehend, Perceive
Specialized synonyms: Hear
Derivative terms: Receiver, Receptive, Receptor

10. Verb. Lift out or reflect from a background. "His eyes picked up his smile"
Generic synonyms: Bring Out, Set Off

11. Verb. Meet someone for sexual purposes. "He always tries to pick up girls in bars"
Generic synonyms: Get Together, Meet
Derivative terms: Pickup

12. Verb. Fill with high spirits; fill with optimism. "The performance is likely to pick up Sue"; "Music can uplift your spirits"
Exact synonyms: Elate, Intoxicate, Lift Up, Uplift
Generic synonyms: Excite, Shake, Shake Up, Stimulate, Stir
Specialized synonyms: Beatify, Puff, Beatify, Exalt, Exhilarate, Inebriate, Thrill, Tickle Pink
Causes: Joy, Rejoice
Antonyms: Depress
Derivative terms: Elation, Elation, Intoxication

13. Verb. Improve significantly; go from bad to good. "Her performance in school picked up"
Exact synonyms: Turn Around
Generic synonyms: Ameliorate, Better, Improve, Meliorate

14. Verb. Perceive with the senses quickly, suddenly, or momentarily. "Catch a glimpse"
Exact synonyms: Catch
Generic synonyms: Comprehend, Perceive

15. Verb. Eat by pecking at, like a bird.
Exact synonyms: Peck
Generic synonyms: Eat
Derivative terms: Pecker

16. Verb. Gain or regain energy. "I picked up after a nap"
Exact synonyms: Gain Vigor, Percolate, Perk, Perk Up
Generic synonyms: Convalesce, Recover, Recuperate
Derivative terms: Pickup

Definition of Pick up

1. Verb. (transitive) To lift; to grasp and raise. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To collect an object, especially in passing. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive or intransitive) To clean up; to return to an organized state. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) To collect a passenger. ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To collect and detain (a suspect). ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive) To improve, increase(,) or speed up. ¹

7. Verb. (intransitive) To restart or resume. ¹

8. Verb. (transitive) To learn, to grasp; to begin to understand. ¹

9. Verb. (transitive) To receive (a radio signal or the like). ¹

10. Verb. (transitive and intransitive with '''on''' by extension) To notice, detect or discern, often used with "on". ¹

11. Verb. (transitive) To point out (a person's behaviour, habits(,) or actions) in a critical manner. ¹

12. Verb. (transitive and intransitive with '''on''') To meet and seduce somebody for romantic purposes, especially in a social situation. ¹

13. Verb. (transitive or intransitive) To answer a telephone. See pick up the phone. ¹

14. Verb. To pay for. ¹

15. Verb. To reduce the despondency of. ¹

16. Verb. To take control (physically) of something. ¹

17. Verb. (soccer) To mark, to defend against an opposition player by following them closely. ¹

18. Verb. ¹

19. Noun. (attributive) An impromptu athletic game. ¹

20. Noun. The act of collecting and taking away something or someone, usually in a vehicle. The time the act occurs. ¹

21. Noun. An instance of approaching someone and engaging in romantic flirtation and courting with the intent to pursue romance, a date, or a sexual encounter. See also '''pick-up line''', '''pick-up joint''', '''pickup artist'''. ¹

22. Noun. (American English) A pickup truck. ¹

23. Noun. (tennis) A half-volley. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Pick Up

pick at
pick bodies
pick corners
pick holes
pick of the litter
pick off
pick on
pick one's nose
pick out
pick out of a hat
pick over
pick six
pick sixes
pick someone's brain
pick through
pick up line
pick up on
pick up speed
pick up stitches
pick up the gauntlet
pick up the phone
pick up the pieces
pick up the slack
pick up the tab
pick up truck
pick up trucks
pickaback
pickaback plant
pickabacked

Literary usage of Pick up

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1912)
"He has to pick up helmet, etc., and go of in an undignified manner. The Wall hops of after his speech. All the others laugh. ..."

2. Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative by Richard Henry Dana (1895)
"More than a dozen of these were owned by men on the beach, and were allowed to run loose among the hills, with a long lasso attached to them, to pick up ..."

3. Publications by Folklore Society (Great Britain) (1901)
"Bounce marble, pick up one stone without touching the rest, and catch marble. Repeat for each stone. Half-twos—Throw down four stones. ..."

4. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"These people live by hunting, by what they can pick up or beg from the agricultural or pastoral tribes among whom they live, and whom they supply with meat, ..."

5. Publications by English Dialect Society (1884)
"Pic, or Pick, pitch from tar; also an emetic. To 'pick up' is to ... To pick down is to throw down ; to pick up, to throw up. See last word. ..."

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