pick up

Definitions

1. 1

   To lift

   To lift; to grasp and raise.

   • When you pick up the bag, make sure to support the bottom.
   • Evidently some, or all, of the boars immolated themselves, for the train crew are reported to have picked up three dead boars and continued to Sézanne, the next stop, where they gave them to the local hospital cooks.
   • She came in now, but to the closet; from it she took a simple skirt and blouse. Picking up her underclothing she departed, obviously to dress somewhere else.
2. 2

   To collect an object, especially in passing.

   • Can you pick up a pint of milk on your way home?
3. 3

   To acquire (something) accidentally

   To acquire (something) accidentally; to catch or contract (a disease).

   • I picked up a cold on my trip last week.
   • Cars often pick up bits of road tar and asphalt, dried bugs, tree sap, or other debris that’s hard to remove with regular car wash soap.
   • We are constantly being exposed to fungi, whether by picking up spores on our skin or eating food on which fungi are hitchhiking. Most of them won’t take up residence in our bodies.
4. ›+ 22 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To clean up

      To clean up; to return to an organized state.

      • You made a mess, aren't you going to pick up after yourself?
      • The floor was strewn with bright snips of origami paper, a crumpled drawing, and one dirty sock, which Amy now shoved under the bed with her foot. ¶ "You're lucky," said Marla. "My mother makes me pick up my room every single day."
   2. 5

      To collect a passenger.

      • I'll pick you up outside the library.
      • After picking up a few passengers (most likely heading into Exeter for shopping) and setting a few off (for a day at the beach), we get the 'right away' and continue along the sea wall with its iconic sandstone cliffs on the left.
   3. 6

      To collect and detain (a suspect).

      • The cops have picked up the man they were looking for.
   4. 7

      To obtain and publish a story, news item, etc.

      • The story does not seem to have been widely picked up.
      • News of this notice from the university was picked up by local media and had the effect of raising the ire of some citizens who saw this as an attack on ‘Chinese heritage’[.]
   5. 8

      To improve, increase, or speed up.

      • Prices seem to be picking up again.
      • I was in bed sick this morning, but I'm picking up now.
   6. 9

      To restart or resume.

      • Let's pick up where we left off yesterday.
      • The plot picks up where the last film left off. The High Table, the organisation that controls crime around the world, has a multi-million-dollar contract out on Wick, who killed a High Table member.
      • Picking up eight years after The Dark Knight left off, the film finds Gotham enjoying a tenuous peace based on Harvey Dent’s moral ideals rather than the ugly truth of his demise.
   7. 10

      To reach and continue along (a road).

      • Walter decided the best route home was to pick up the A5.
      • Miller brought his car from the underground garage and threaded a way through London's traffic to pick up the A5.
   8. 11

      To learn, to grasp

      To learn, to grasp; to begin to understand; to realize.

      • It looks complicated, but you'll soon pick it up.
   9. 12

      To receive (a radio signal or the like).

      • With the new antenna, I can pick up stations all the way from Omaha.
   10. 13

       To notice, detect or discern

       To notice, detect or discern; to pick up on.

       • Did you pick up his nervousness?
   11. 14

       To point out the behaviour, habits, or actions of (a person) in a critical manner

       To point out the behaviour, habits, or actions of (a person) in a critical manner; used with on.

       • She's always picking me up on my grammar.
   12. 15

       To meet and seduce somebody for romantic purposes, especially in a social situation.

       • He was in the fabric store not to buy fabric but to pick up women.
       • I'll tell you what. You lay off my clients, I'll give you a few pointers picking up women, okay?
       • Xavier—first seen as an adult in First Class trying to pick up a woman in a bar—is impotent, at least metaphorically, and will eventually see all of his luxuriant hair fall out.
   13. 16

       To answer a telephone.

       • I'm calling him, but he just isn't picking up!
   14. 17

       To receive calls

       To receive calls; to function correctly.

       • I've tried his home number a couple times, but it isn't picking up.
   15. 18

       To pay for.

       • The company will pick up lunch with customers for sales calls.
   16. 19

       To reduce the despondency of.

       • […]they pick me up when I'm feeling blue
   17. 20

       To take control (physically) of something.

       • Bolton were then just inches from taking the lead, but the dangerous-looking Taylor drilled just wide after picking up a loose ball following Jose Bosingwa's poor attempted clearance.
   18. 21

       To mark, to defend against an opposition player by following them closely.

       • And soon after, no-one picked up Shotton who was free to power a 12-yard header over from another Pennant corner, before Pennant sent a free kick straight at Cardiff keeper Tom Heaton.
   19. 22

       To record

       To record; to notch up.

       • And the home side survived without any late scares to pick up the first win of their Group F campaign.
   20. 23

       To behave in a manner that results in a foul.

   21. 24

       To promote somebody who was previously passed over.

       • The list is about the same as when each class was commissioned, except for a small percentage who were passed over once or twice and then picked up.
   22. 25

       Rare form of pickup.

The neighborhood