VERB
- eat by pecking at, like a bird
- take and lift upward
-
perceive with the senses quickly, suddenly, or momentarily
ears open to catch every sound
He caught the allusion in her glance
Catch a glimpse
The dog picked up the scent
I caught the aroma of coffee -
take up by hand
He picked up the book and started to read -
get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
I see that you have been promoted
I learned that she has two grown-up children -
give a passenger or a hitchhiker a lift
We picked up a hitchhiker on the highway -
take into custody
the police nabbed the suspected criminals -
get in addition, as an increase
The candidate picked up thousands of votes after his visit to the nursing home -
register (perceptual input)
pick up a signal -
gather or collect
You can get the results on Monday
They pick up our trash twice a week
She picked up the children at the day care center -
gain or regain energy
I picked up after a nap -
fill with high spirits; fill with optimism
Music can uplift your spirits -
buy casually or spontaneously
I picked up some food for a snack -
improve significantly; go from bad to good
Her performance in school picked up -
meet someone for sexual purposes
he always tries to pick up girls in bars -
lift out or reflect from a background
His eyes picked up his smile
The scarf picks up the color of the skirt
How To Use pick up In A Sentence
- If there was any hope of holding on to even a shred of her dwindling self-respect, she should do exactly what she knew Margo would do—close the laptop, take her de-scrunchied, perfumed, and nearly thonged self down to the nearest club, pick up the first passably good-looking stranger who asked her to dance, and bring him back to the apartment for some safe but anonymous sex. Goodnight Tweetheart
- Instead, go to the departure area of the airport and pick up a taxi that has just dropped somebody. Times, Sunday Times
- By the same token, if you pick up a strange rash, you will want to see a doctor in case it really is flesh-eating bacteria.
- They didn't pick up any ground against Boston, who spent its day walloping Toronto to remain two games in front of New York. Yanks Smack Cleveland Again
- I strongly recommend you pick up the book next time you spy a copy on someone's bookshelf.
- All phospholipids are hygroscopic and pick up water if they are not handled properly under inert gas atmosphere.
- In the wild there is no piste patrol to pick up the pieces, and the mountains bristle with rocks, cliffs and cornices.
- You can pick up a background porky flavour, but they're way too sweet. Times, Sunday Times
- She explained moreover that wherever she happened to be she found a dropped thread to pick up, a ragged edge to repair, some familiar appetite in ambush, jumping out as she approached, yet appeasable with a temporary biscuit. The Ambassadors
- I wake up in the morning and before I even get out of bed, I pick up my celly, go to ESPN.com and check my Padres score. Falling Off the Bandwagon