English
pick up
Verb

pick up (third-person singular simple present picks up, present participle picking up, simple past and past participle picked up)

  1. (transitive) To lift; to grasp and raise.
    Antonyms: put down
    When you pick up the bag, make sure to support the bottom.
  2. (transitive) To collect an object, especially in passing.
    Antonyms: drop off
    Can you pick up a pint of milk on your way home?
    • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC ↗:
      "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. […]"
  3. (transitive) To acquire (something) accidentally; to catch (a disease).
    I picked up a cold on my trip last week.
  4. (transitive or intransitive) To clean up; to return to an organized state.
    Antonyms: mess up
    Aren't you going to pick up after yourself?
  5. (transitive) To collect a passenger.
    Antonyms: drop off
    I'll pick you up outside the library.
  6. (transitive) To collect and detain (a suspect).
    The cops have picked up the man they were looking for.
  7. (transitive, media) To obtain and publish a story, news item, etc.
    The story does not seem to have been widely picked up.
  8. (intransitive) 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.
  9. (intransitive) To restart or resume.
    Let's pick up where we left off yesterday.
    • 2012 July 18, Scott Tobias, AV Club, The Dark Knight Rises‎[http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624]:
      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.
  10. (transitive) To learn, to grasp; to begin to understand; to realize.
    Synonyms: learn
    It looks complicated, but you'll soon pick it up.
  11. (transitive) To receive (a radio signal or the like).
    With the new antenna, I can pick up stations all the way from Omaha.
  12. (transitive) To notice, detect or discern; to pick up on
    Did you pick up his nervousness?
  13. (transitive) 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.
  14. (transitive and intransitive with on) To meet and seduce somebody for romantic purposes, especially in a social situation.
    Synonyms: blag, hit on, rizz up, take up
    He was in the fabric store not to buy fabric but to pick up women.
  15. (transitive or intransitive) To answer a telephone.
    Synonyms: pick up the phone
    I'm calling him, but he just isn't picking up!
  16. (intransitive, of a phone) To receive calls; to function correctly.
    I've tried his home number a couple times, but it isn't picking up.
  17. To pay for.
    The company will pick up lunch with customers for sales calls.
  18. To reduce the despondency of.
  19. To take control (physically) of something.
  20. (soccer) To mark, to defend against an opposition player by following them closely.
  21. To record; to notch up.
  22. (sports) To behave in a manner that results in a foul.
  23. (US, military, transitive) To promote somebody who was previously passed over.
    • 1937, United States. Congress. Senate, Hearings, volume 2, page 141:
      […] there are now 98 officers of that rank who have been passed over one or more times, most of whom have little prospect of being picked up by future selection boards but will await only the completion of 21 years' service before going on the retired list.
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pick up (plural pick ups)

  1. Rare form of pickup


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