France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
Ld. Lytton.
5. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick
of the flock.
6. (Print.) A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a
letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet.
MacKellar.
7. (Painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to
correct an unevenness in a picture.
8. (Weawing) The blow which drives the shuttle, -- the rate of speed of
a loom being reckoned as so many picks per minute; hence, in describing
the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread; as, so many picks to an inch.
Pick dressing (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed
tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions. -- Pick
hammer, a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.
Pick"a*back` (?), adv. On the back or shoulders; as, to ride pickback.
[Written also pickapack, pickback, and pickpack.]
A woman stooping to take a child pickaback.
R,Jefferies.
Pick"a*nin`ny (?), n.; pl. Pickaninnies (#). [Cf. Sp. pequeÒo little,
young.] A small child; especially, a negro or mulatto infant. [U.S. &
West Indies]
Pick"a*pack` (?), adv. Pickaback.
{ Pick"ax`, Pick"axe` } (?), n. [A corruption of OE. pikois, pikeis, F.
picois, fr. pic. See Pick, n.] A pick with a point at one end, a
transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the
middle; a hammer with a flattened end for driving wedges and a pointed
end for piercing as it strikes. Shak.
Pick"back` (?), adv. On the back.
Pick"ed (?), a. 1. Pointed; sharp. "Picked and polished." Chapman.
Let the stake be made picked at the top.
Mortimer.
2. (Zoˆl.) Having a pike or spine on the back; -- said of certain
fishes.