pickup

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pick·up

(pĭk′ŭp′)

a. The act or process of picking up: the pickup and delivery of farm produce.

b. Sports The act of striking or fielding a ball after it has touched the ground: a good pickup and throw from third base.

c. Capacity for acceleration: a sports car with good pickup.

d. Informal An improvement in condition or activity: a pickup in sales.

e. Slang An arrest by a law enforcement officer.

2. One that is picked up, especially:

a. Passengers or freight: Taxi drivers expect good tips from airport pickups.

b. Informal A hitchhiker.

c. Slang A stranger with whom casual acquaintance is made, usually in anticipation of sexual relations.

3. Accounting A balance brought forward.

4. Previous journalistic copy to which succeeding copy is added.

5. Music See upbeat.

6. One that picks up, especially:

a. A pickup truck.

b. The rotary rake on a piece of machinery, such as a harvester, that picks up windrowed hay or straw.

7. Electronics

a. A transducer that converts vibrations, as of a phonograph needle or guitar string, into electrical impulses for subsequent conversion into sound.

b. The tone arm of a record player.

a. The reception of light or sound waves for conversion to electrical impulses.

b. The apparatus used for such reception.

c. A telecast originating outside a studio.

d. The apparatus for transmitting a broadcast from an outside place to the broadcasting station.

adj.

Being, relating to, or involving a group of people assembled informally for a temporary purpose: a pickup orchestra; a pickup baseball game.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pick•up

(ˈpɪkˌʌp)

n.

1. an improvement, as in health, business conditions, production, etc.

2. a casual acquaintance, as one offering hope of a sexual encounter.

3. an instance of taking aboard passengers or freight.

4. the passengers or freight taken aboard.

5. acceleration, or the capacity for acceleration.

6. Also called pick′up truck`. a small truck with a low-sided open body, used for deliveries and light hauling.

7. a device at the end of the tone arm of a phonograph that translates the movement of the stylus into a changing electrical voltage; cartridge.

a. the reception of sound waves in a radio transmitter for conversion into electrical waves.

b. a receiving or recording device.

adj.

9. composed of or using whatever persons, ingredients, etc., are available: a pickup dance band; a pickup supper.

[1855–60]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	pickup - a light truck with an open body and low sides and a tailboard pickup truck technical - a pickup truck with a gun mounted on it motortruck, truck - an automotive vehicle suitable for hauling
	2.	pickup - a warrant to take someone into custody; "put out a pickup on that man" arrest warrant, bench warrant - a warrant authorizing law enforcement officials to apprehend an offender and bring that person to court colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
	3.	pickup - anything with restorative powers; "she needed the pickup that coffee always gave her" pick-me-up corrective, restorative - a device for treating injury or disease
	4.	pickup - a casual acquaintance; often made in hope of sexual relationships acquaintance, friend - a person with whom you are acquainted; "I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances"; "we are friends of the family"
	5.	pickup - the attribute of being capable of rapid acceleration; "his car has a lot of pickup" getaway acceleration - an increase in rate of change; "modern science caused an acceleration of cultural change"
	6.	pickup - mechanical device consisting of a light balanced arm that carries the cartridge pickup arm, tone arm mechanical device - mechanism consisting of a device that works on mechanical principles phonograph, record player - machine in which rotating records cause a stylus to vibrate and the vibrations are amplified acoustically or electronically
	7.	pickup - an electro-acoustic transducer that is the part of the arm of a record player that holds the needle and that is removable cartridge crystal pickup - a cartridge in which an output voltage is produced by the vibration of a piezoelectric crystal electro-acoustic transducer - a transducer that converts electrical to acoustic energy or vice versa phonograph, record player - machine in which rotating records cause a stylus to vibrate and the vibrations are amplified acoustically or electronically stylus - a sharp pointed device attached to the cartridge of a record player
	8.	pickup - the act or process of picking up or collecting from various places; "garbage pickup is on Mondays and Thursdays" assembling, collecting, aggregation, collection - the act of gathering something together garbage collection, garbage pickup, trash collection, trash pickup - the collection and removal of garbage
	9.	pickup - the act of taking aboard passengers or freight acquiring, getting - the act of acquiring something; "I envied his talent for acquiring"; "he's much more interested in the getting than in the giving" transfer, transferral, transportation, conveyance, transport - the act of moving something from one location to another

pickup

noun

Slang. A seizing and holding by law:

apprehension, arrest, seizure.

Slang: bust, collar, pinch.

References in classic literature ?

Ishmael Pickup." The little old gentleman stared at me distrustfully.

Pickup's class has rather fallen off, and that there are dealers in pictures, nowadays, who are as just and honorable men as can be found in any profession or calling, anywhere under the sun.

Pickup and his pupils a complete monopoly of all the profit which could be extracted, in their line of business, from the feebly-buttoned pocket of the patron, and the inexhaustible credulity of the connoisseur.

Pickup still do a tolerable stroke of business (making bright modern masters for the market which is glutted with the dingy old material), and will, probably, continue to thrive and multiply in the future: the one venerable institution of this world which we can safely count upon as likely to last, being the institution of human folly.

Pickup's Old Masters, when a dirty little boy opened the door of the gallery, and introduced a young lady.

"Pickup is suspicious," he said; "and I have had all the difficulty in the world to pave your way smoothly for you at the outset.

Pickup behind me; "no pay, my dear, unlesh your Rembrandt ish good enough to take me in--even me, Ishmael, who dealsh in pictersh and knowsh what'sh what."

Pickup, if it had not occurred to me that the old wretch must know her father's name and address.

Pickup, purposing to make myself essential to his prosperity, in a commercial sense--and then to threaten him with offering my services to a rival manufacturer of Old Masters, unless he trusted me with the secret of the name and address.

View in context

Elon Musk's Tesla pickup has achieved what other vehicles could not: gather such strong interest even if people have not actually seen what the new electric utility vehicle looks like. 

Tesla Pickup Design: Facebook Has Some Of The Best Concepts

The allegation was made by a spokesman for legitimate Bahraini pickup drivers, who say they need greater protection from rogue competition.

Pickup drivers seek clamp on illegal taxis

Recently, the "China Pickup Blue Book" conference was held in the Beijing Automobile Museum.

JAC Motors - Intelligent Pickup Benchmark! JAC T8 won the Best Intelligent Network Award Again -- 9/7/2019

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