To pick to pieces

To pick to pieces
Pick Pick (p[i^]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Picked} (p[i^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Picking}.] [OE. picken, pikken, to prick, peck; akin to Icel. pikka, Sw. picka, Dan. pikke, D. pikken, G. picken, F. piquer, W. pigo. Cf. {Peck}, v., {Pike}, {Pitch} to throw.] 1. To throw; to pitch. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

As high as I could pick my lance. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin. [1913 Webster]

3. To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc. [1913 Webster]

4. To open (a lock) as by a wire. [1913 Webster]

5. To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck; to gather, as fruit from a tree, flowers from the stalk, feathers from a fowl, etc. [1913 Webster]

6. To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth; as, to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket. [1913 Webster]

Did you pick Master Slender's purse? --Shak. [1913 Webster]

He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]

7. To choose; to select; to separate as choice or desirable; to cull; as, to pick one's company; to pick one's way; -- often with out. ``One man picked out of ten thousand.'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]

8. To take up; esp., to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together; as, to pick rags; -- often with up; as, to pick up a ball or stones; to pick up information. [1913 Webster]

9. To trim. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

{To pick at}, to tease or vex by pertinacious annoyance.

{To pick a bone with}. See under {Bone}.

{To pick a thank}, to curry favor. [Obs.] --Robynson (More's Utopia).

{To pick off}. (a) To pluck; to remove by picking. (b) To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy.

{To pick out}. (a) To mark out; to variegate; as, to pick out any dark stuff with lines or spots of bright colors. (b) To select from a number or quantity.

{To pick to pieces}, to pull apart piece by piece; hence [Colloq.], to analyze; esp., to criticize in detail.

{To pick a quarrel}, to give occasion of quarrel intentionally.

{To pick up}. (a) To take up, as with the fingers. (b) To get by repeated efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • pick to pieces — 1. To pull apart 2. To criticize adversely in detail • • • Main Entry: ↑pick * * * pick (someone or something) to pieces see ↑pick, 1 • • • Main Entry: ↑piece …   Useful english dictionary

  • pick\ to\ pieces — • pick apart • pick to pieces v. phr. To criticize harshly; find things wrong with; find fault with. After the dance, the girls picked Susan apart. They picked the play to pieces. See: pick holes in …   Словарь американских идиом

  • pick to pieces/shreds — pick (someone or something) to pieces/shreds : to study and criticize all of the parts of (someone or something) The media picked his personal life to pieces. Her ideas were picked to shreds by her coworkers. • • • Main Entry: ↑pick …   Useful english dictionary

  • pick to pieces — pick/pull (someone/something) to pieces to criticize someone or something very severely, often in a way that is not fair. It s discouraging because every time I show him a bit of work I ve done he picks it to pieces …   New idioms dictionary

  • pick to pieces — Synonyms and related words: atomize, break to pieces, carp, catch at straws, cavil, cleave, cut up, defoliate, demolish, denude, disassemble, disintegrate, dismantle, dismember, draw and quarter, fault find, find fault, flay, fragment, lacerate,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • pick to pieces — See: PICK APART, PICK HOLES IN …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • pick to pieces — See: PICK APART, PICK HOLES IN …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • pick to pieces — criticize severely …   English contemporary dictionary

  • pick — pick1 [pik] vt. [ME pykken, var. of picchen, to PITCH2] Weaving to throw (a shuttle) n. 1. one passage or throw of the shuttle of a loom 2. one of the weft threads, or filling yarns pick2 [pik] n. [ …   English World dictionary

  • Pick — (p[i^]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Picked} (p[i^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Picking}.] [OE. picken, pikken, to prick, peck; akin to Icel. pikka, Sw. picka, Dan. pikke, D. pikken, G. picken, F. piquer, W. pigo. Cf. {Peck}, v., {Pike}, {Pitch} to throw.] 1 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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