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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

picker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɪkə(ɹ)/
  • (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English pikere, pykare, equivalent to pick + -er.

Meanings

  1. (agent, form-of) Agent noun of pick; one who picks.
    form of pick
    • That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls. 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
    • The apple picker climbed the tree.
    • I have observed that there are only two types of eaters in this world - pickers and wolfers. 1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 13:
  2. Agent noun of pick; one who picks. ▸ A worker responsible for picking or retrieving ordered items, etc.
    • "Farmers can't get sufficient fruit pickers," he said. "It is the same pool of labour, agency staff [who are] largely eastern European [and] a huge number of them Polish." 2021 August 27, “Fruit picker shortage spreads to Christmas workers”, in BBC News, United States, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2025:
    • Already at Amazon warehouses, ‘pickers’—the workers who locate purchased items and transport them to the shipping station within the warehouse—are issued a hand-held device that tracks their every move. 2020, Noreena Hertz, chapter 8, in The Lonely Century, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN:
  3. Any user interface control that selects something.
    • file picker
    • date picker
  4. A machine for picking fibrous materials to pieces so as to loosen and separate the fibre.
  5. The piece in a loom that strikes the end of the shuttle and impels it through the warp.
  6. A priming wire for cleaning the vent, in ordnance.
  7. (qualifier:gold panning, slang) A fragment of gold smaller than a nugget but large enough to be picked up.
  8. (historical) One who removes defects from and finishes electrotype plates.
  9. (archaic) A pilferer.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pickers Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

wool picker · winkle picker · picker-to-goods · goods-to-person · bowpicker · G2P · shitpicker · lockpicker · sternpicker · goods-to-picker · picker-upperer · ragpicker · bone-picker · picker upper · winkle-picker · picker-to-parts · picker-upper · toothpicker · berrypicker · peckerhead · stockpicker · parts-to-picker · picker-up · nutpicker

Hyponyms

hop picker · cotton picker · waste picker · stock-picker · nose-picker · stock picker · nit-picker · sally-picker · cherry picker · gooseberry-picker · wig-picker

Translations (11)

fr sélecteur (computing: any user interface control that selects something) · bg берач (one who picks) · fr glaneur (one who picks) · fi poimija (one who picks) · nrf tchilieux (one who picks) · fi valitsin (computing: any user interface control that selects something) · fr glaneuse (one who picks) · mk бе́рач (one who picks) · uk збира́ч (one who picks) · fr cueilleur (one who picks) · pt seletor (computing: any user interface control that selects something)