picket en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (General-American) audio
- /ˈpɪkɪt/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From French piquet, from piquer (“to pierce”).
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A stake driven into the ground.
a picket fence
- (countable, historical, uncountable) A type of punishment by which an offender had to rest his or her entire body weight on the top of a small stake.
- (countable, uncountable) A tool in mountaineering that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor or to arrest falls.
-
(countable, uncountable) One of the soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance; or any unit (for example, an aircraft or ship) performing a similar function.
So confident was he that he ignored the warning of his two British advisers to post pickets to watch the river, and even withdrew those they had placed there.
1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 59:
-
(countable, figuratively, sometimes, uncountable) A sentry.
Maccario, it was evident, did not care to take the risk of blundering upon a picket, and a man led them by twisting paths until at last the hacienda rose blackly before them.
1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 26, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
-
(countable, uncountable) A protester positioned outside an office, workplace etc. during a strike (usually in plural); also the protest itself.
Pickets normally endeavor to be non-violent.
In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- (uncountable) The card game piquet.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| pickets | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
picketmate · screw picket · picket rope · flying picket · picket bullet · white picket fence · counterpicket · picket fence · picketer · outpicket · picket house · picket-house · picketable · picket boat · picket line · picketee · picket pin · star picket · picketless
Translations (67)
ru кордо́н (soldiers placed forward of position) · de Pfahl (stake driven into the ground) · de Pfosten (stake driven into the ground) · ga staic (stake driven into the ground) · ru форпо́ст (soldiers placed forward of position) · bg дозор (soldiers placed forward of position) · ja 杭 (stake driven into the ground) · mi wāwā (stake driven into the ground) · fi etuvartio (soldiers placed forward of position) · it picchetto (stake driven into the ground) · fi lakkovartio (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · mk ко́лец (stake driven into the ground) · alt пикет (soldiers placed forward of position) · ru пике́т (soldiers placed forward of position) · ta மறியல் (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · ca piquet (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · it picchetto (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · et pikett (soldiers placed forward of position) · ja ピケット (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · fi paaluun paneminen (type of punishment) · no staur (stake driven into the ground) · mk ко́рдон (soldiers placed forward of position) · ar شَاخِص (stake driven into the ground) · cs kolík (stake driven into the ground) · is staur (stake driven into the ground) · de Streikposten (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · bg кол (stake driven into the ground) · km រ (stake driven into the ground) · is hervörður (soldiers placed forward of position) · eo paliso (stake driven into the ground) · ota قازیق (stake driven into the ground) · nl piket (stake driven into the ground) · ru кол (stake driven into the ground) · fr piquet (stake driven into the ground) · ru пике́тчик (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · bg пикел (mountaineering tool) · fi lumikiila (mountaineering tool) · de Vorposten (soldiers placed forward of position) · is verkfallsvörður (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · is pílári í girðingu (stake driven into the ground) · ota وتد (stake driven into the ground) · de Latte (stake driven into the ground) · ar وَتَد (stake driven into the ground) · mk кол (stake driven into the ground) · de Zaunlatte (stake driven into the ground) · fr piquet (soldiers placed forward of position) · nl piket (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · cmn 糾察隊 /纠察队 (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · ru дозо́р (soldiers placed forward of position) · ru штаке́тина (stake driven into the ground) · it piolo (stake driven into the ground) · cmn 樴 /枳 (stake driven into the ground) · fr piquet (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · ru аванпо́ст (soldiers placed forward of position) · fi paalu (stake driven into the ground) · it paletto (stake driven into the ground) · ar لِكَاز (stake driven into the ground) · pl sztacheta (stake driven into the ground) · ru пике́тчица (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · ro pichet (stake driven into the ground) · fi lakkovahti (protester outside a workplace during a strike) · ca piquet (stake driven into the ground) · fr planton (soldiers placed forward of position) · is rimill (stake driven into the ground) · it picchetto (soldiers placed forward of position) · ca piquet (soldiers placed forward of position) · nl piket (soldiers placed forward of position)