Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Picket
1.
A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.
2.
A pointed pale, used in marking fences.
3.
[Probably so called from the
picketing
of the horses.] (Mil.)
A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; – called also
outlying picket
. 4.
By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept outsiders, and prevent them from working for employers with whom the organization is at variance.
[Cant]
5.
A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
6.
A game at cards. See
Piquet
. Inlying picket
(Mil.)
, a detachment of troops held in camp or quarters, detailed to march if called upon.
– Picket fence
, a fence made of pickets. See def. 2, above.
– Picket guard
(Mil.)
, a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm.
– Picket line
. (Mil.)
(a)
A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed at intervals
. (b)
A rope to which horses are secured when groomed.
– Picketpin
, an iron pin for picketing horses.
Pick′et
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Picketed
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Picketing
.] 1.
To fortify with pointed stakes.
2.
To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.
3.
To tether to, or as to, a picket;
as, to
. picket
a horse4.
To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.
5.
To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
[Obs.]
Webster 1828 Edition
Picket
PICK'ET
,Noun.
1.
A narrow board pointed; used in making fence.2.
A guard posted in front of an army to give notice of the approach of the enemy.3.
A game at cards. [See Piquet.]4.
A punishment with consists in making the offender stand with one foot on a pointed stake.PICK'ET
,Verb.
T.
1.
To inclose or fence with narrow pointed boards.2.
To fasten to a picket.Definition 2024
picket
picket
English
Noun
picket (plural pickets)
- A stake driven into the ground.
- a picket fence
- (historical) A type of punishment by which an offender had to rest his or her entire body weight on the top of a small stake.
- A tool in mountaineering that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor or to arrest falls.
- (military) Soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance. It can also refer to any unit (for example, an aircraft or ship) performing a similar function.
- 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 59:
- 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 2010, p. 59:
- A sentry. Can be used figuratively.
- 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 26, in The Dust of Conflict:
- 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.
-
- 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.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- 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.
- (card games) The card game piquet.
Translations
stake driven into the ground
type of punishment
|
mountaineering tool
|
soldiers placed forward of position
sentry — see sentry
protester outside a workplace during a strike
card game — see piquet
Verb
picket (third-person singular simple present pickets, present participle picketing, simple past and past participle picketed)
- (intransitive) To protest, organized by a labour union, typically in front of the location of employment.
- (transitive) To enclose or fortify with pickets or pointed stakes.
- (transitive) To tether to, or as if to, a picket.
- to picket a horse
- (transitive) To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.
- (obsolete, transitive) To torture by forcing to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
Derived terms
Derived terms
