Part 261

Pi"cene (?), n. [See Piceous.] (Chem.) A hydrocarbon (C&?;H&?;) extracted from the pitchy residue of coal tar and petroleum as a bluish fluorescent crystalline substance.

Pic"e*ous (?), a. [L. piceus, fr. pix, picis, pitch.] Of or pertaining to pitch; resembling pitch in color or quality; pitchy.

Pi"chey (?), n. [Native name.] (Zoˆl.) A Brazilian armadillo (Dasypus minutus); the little armadillo. [Written also pichiy.]

||Pi`chi*ci*a"go (?), n. [Native name.] (Zoˆl.) A small, burrowing, ||South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus), allied to the ||armadillos. The shell is attached only along the back. [Written also ||pichyciego.]

Pich"u*rim bean` (?). (Bot.) The seed of a Brazilian lauraceous tree (Nectandra Puchury) of a taste and smell between those of nutmeg and of sassafras, -- sometimes used medicinally. Called also sassafras nut.

||Pi"ci (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. picus a woodpecker.] (Zoˆl.) A ||division of birds including the woodpeckers and wrynecks.

Pi"ci*form (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to Piciformes.

||Pic`i*for"mes (?), n. pl. [NL. See Picus, and -Form.] (Zoˆl.) A group ||of birds including the woodpeckers, toucans, barbets, colies, ||kingfishes, hornbills, and some other related groups.

Pi"cine (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the woodpeckers (Pici), or to the Piciformes.

Pick (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picked (?); 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.]

As high as I could pick my lance.

Shak.

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.

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

4. To open (a lock) as by a wire.

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.

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.

Did you pick Master Slender's purse?

Shak.

He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.

Cowper.

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.

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.

9. To trim. [Obs.] Chaucer.

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.

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Pick (?), v. i. 1. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.

Why stand'st thou picking? Is thy palate sore?