Dictionary

pick at en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To touch, grab, handle, or pull tentatively or gingerly, using a utensil or one's fingers.
   • Mr Vholes remained immovable, except that he secretly picked at one of the red pimples on his yellow face with his black glove. 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 45, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
   • He began to pick at the fussy fringe on the arm of his chair. 1919, Henry B. Fuller, chapter 4, in Bertram Cope's Year:
2. (idiomatic, of food, transitive) To touch, grab, handle, or pull tentatively or gingerly, using a utensil or one's fingers. ▸ Synonym of peck at.
   • Picking at a salad in a conference room at Google’s headquarters here, Ms. Mayer says she is vexed by how some perceive her. 2009 February 28, Laura M. Holson, “Putting a Bolder Face on Google”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Aug 2015:
3. (idiomatic, transitive) To pick on or repeatedly criticize (someone).
   • "[N]oise and disrespect of no kind ain't pleasin' to him. His own folks behave becomin', but strangers go and act as they like. . . . Then we are picked at for their doin's." 1872, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 9, in Work: A Story of Experience:
   • "And I know she's my aunt, but she needn't pick at me all the time," she added defiantly. 1904, Margaret Sidney, chapter 15, in Five Little Peppers and their Friends:
   • "I get crabby and pick at him about stupid things that wouldn’t normally bother me." 2011 October 14, Richard Barber, “Carol McGiffin: I've got a problem in the bedroom... Insomnia!”, in Daily Mail, UK, retrieved 03 Aug 2015:

Forms

Synonyms

pester · badger · beset · chevy · vex · persecute · badger · bug · give someone grief · fiddle with · nitpick · peck at · hound · pester · toy with · pick at · bullyrag · bait · bedevil · harass · plague · toy with · beleaguer · bully · find fault · fiddle with · besiege · devil · dog · harry