and (2, in pl.) = the fingers (B. E., c. 1696). The same idea (stealthy, underhand) occurs in Pickpenny, Pickthank, Pickpurse, &c. (all of which see). See Prig.
d. 1400. Chaucer, Leg. Good Women, 2456. He piked of her all the good he might.
1440. Prompt Parv., s.v. Pykare, lytylle theef, furculus.
1503. Acts of Parliament [quoted by Oliphant]. Theves and pikars.
d. 1529. Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 236. To kepe him from pykynge it was a grete payne. Ibid., Maner of the World, 130. Pickers of purses and males [bag or wallet]. Ibid., Garlande of Laurell, 184. Some be called crafty that can pyke a purse.
1550. T. Lever, Sermons [Arber], 38. Pickinge theft is lesse than murtheryng robrye.
[?]. Ure, Hist. Rutherglen [Act Counc.] (1793). Whaevir beis found out sheiring, lading, &c, before the bell ringing in the morneing, and efter the ringing thairof at night shall—be repute and holden as a pycker, and one that wrongeth there neighbours.
d. 1555. Latimer, Sermons [Parker Soc.], 452. I had of late occasion to speak of picking and stealing.
1577. Holinshed, Chronicles [Nares]. Thefte and pickerie were quite suppressed.
1582. Hakluyt, Voyages, i. 241. If he be a picker or a cutpurse . . . the second time he is taken he hath a piece of his Nose cut off.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii. 2. By these pickers and stealers. Ibid., Merry Wives, i. i. Pistol, did you pick Master Slender's purse.
1604. Shakspeare, Winter's Tale, iv. iv. In this time of lethargy I picked and cut most of their festival purses.
1611. Cotgrave, Dict., s.v. Picoree, Piccory, forraging, ransacking. Ibid. Picorer, to forrage, rifle, rob, or prey upon the poor husbandman.
1660. Howell, Lex. Tetra, s.v. Picaroon.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas [Routledge], 55. They picked my pocket of my ring. Ibid., 173. Moralez . . . had conned over the pretty pickings to be made out of this juggle.
1754-64. Erskine, Instit., B. iv., Tit. 4, s. 50. The stealing of trifles, which in our law language is styled pickery, has never been punished by the usage of Scotland, but by imprisonment, scourging, &c.
1808. Jamieson, Dict. Scot Proverb. It is ill to be called a thief and aye found piking.
1878. Stevenson, Edinburgh (1894), 1. 29. Slinking from a magistrates' supper-room to a thieves' ken, and pickeering . . . by the flicker of a dark lamp.
Expressions more or less colloquial are: to pick a bone (crow or matter) = to seek a quarrel: see Bone, Crow, and Pluck; to pick up = (1) to improve gradually: as from illness or failure; (2) to make acquaintance with, or accost: usually in disparagement of the person accosted—sharpers, street walkers, and such like pick up 'flats' or 'culls; (3) to get casually; and, generally, (4) to impose upon or take an advantage in a contract or bargain (Bee, 1823); to pick flies off (tailors') = to fault-find; to pick out robins' eyes (tailors') = to side-stitch black cloth or fine material; to pick off (general) = (1) to aim with effect, and (2) to wound or kill; to pick on = to disturb, to nag; to pick up = to put in order: as a room; to pick a bit = to eat mincingly; to pick and choose = to select with discrimination; to pick the brains (or mind) = to steal ideas; to plagiarise; to pick holes (or a fault) = to fault-find : hence pick-fault = a censorious fault-finder; to pick a quarrel = to make offence: hence pick-quarrel =
