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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

know how to pick 'em en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

  1. (colloquial) you have chosen the wrong person
    • Garrity closed his eyes and shook his head. “Damn, Tai, you know how to pick 'em.” 2012, Tina Whittle, Darker Than Any Shadow, Head of Zeus, →ISBN, page 69:
    • "Jesus, Kozak, you sure know how to pick 'em. Promise me you won't go near him again." 2011, Kate Flora, Death at the Wheel (The Thea Kozak Mystery Series, Book 3), ePublishing Works!, →ISBN, page 89:
    • “You sure know how to pick 'em, Frank. That bar, Miguel, a racist bartender. That's a hell of a way to start a night,” Jefferson said. “Yeah,” I said. “I sure can pick 'em.” 2014, Dean Klinkenberg, Rock Island Lines, Travel Passages, →ISBN, page 58:
    • But they both turned out to be wrong for me. “Yeah, girl, you sure do know how to pick 'em.” 2007, T.N. Baker, Dice, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 137:
    • He let out a long slow whistle between his teeth, shaking his head. “Boy, you know how to pick 'em, don't you?” 2008, Marcus Wolf, One Lie, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 413:
    • I sure know how to pick 'em. Except I don't know as I've got any credit coming for this one, because it's hard to make the case that it was me that picked her. 2013, George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Dangerous Women, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 275:
  2. (colloquial, literally) you are good at picking people or things

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
knowing how to pick 'em Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
knows how to pick 'em Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
knew how to pick 'em Tense=Past lexicographic
known how to pick 'em Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (1)

nl weet ze wel uit te kiezen (Translations)