Definition
To distinguish; discern.
To detect using one's senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste).
To send a long pass or cross to.
Origins
From pick + out. Compare Saterland Frisian uutpikke (“to pick out”), Dutch uitpikken (“to pick out”).
In Context
- "The young birds cry out for food, and the parents returning from the sea manage to pick out their own amid a mass of lookalikes."
- "And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock."
- "Ameobi skipped away down the left in the 39th minute and tried to pick out Shearer with a cross but his delivery was cut out by goalkeeper Jussi J..."