a cantankerous person; to pick at = to nag; and so forth. See also pick-thank and pick-purse.
1321. Old Poem [Camden Soc., Political Songs, 334, line 238]. The best he piketh up himself, and maketh his ma we touht; And zeveth the Gode man soupe, the lene broth that nis noht for seke.
1448-60. Paston Letters [Oliphant, New English, i. 288-90. In the Paston Letters we mark the lingering traces of the Norfolk dialect soon to vanish from the correspondence of the educated. Among the (new) verbs may be remarked go lose (loose), peke a quarrell, &c.].
d. 1529. Skelton, Ag. Comely Coystrowne, 35. A bungler, a brawler, a pyker of quarellys. Ibid., Bowge of Courte, 314. Fyrste pycke a quarrell, and fall oute with hym then.
1530. Tyndale, Works [Oliphant, New English, i. 427. Tyndale talks of a pick-quarrel],
15[?]. Hyrde, Tr. Christian Woman (1541), fol. 138b. They medle with other folkes busines . . . exhort and giue preceptes, rebuke and correcte, pyke fautes.
1579. Lyly, Euphues [Arber], 246. Men picke thy minde out of thy hands.
1581. Lyly, Euphues, 'Anat of Wit,' 107. As I am not minded to picke a thank with the one, so am I not determined to picke a quarrell with the other.
1598. Shakspeare, All's Well, iv. 5. We may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb. Ibid., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 3. You owe me money, Sir John; and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it.
1609. Shakspeare, Pericles, iv. 2. Therefore, if in our youths we could pick up some pretty estate, 'twere not amiss to keep our door hatched.
1612. Beaumont and Fletcher, Coxcomb, iii. 3. She'll pick a quarrel with a sleeping child, Ere she fall out with me.
1673. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing Master, ii. 2. Since we poor slavish women know Our men we cannot pick and choose.
1680. North, Lives of the Norths [Oliphant: There are the verbs take fire, go to the expence, pick holes, kidnap].
1709. Dampier, Voyages, ii. i. 167. By this trade the Freemen of Malacca pick up a good livelihood.
d. 1719. Addison, Vision of Mirza. When I was at Grand Cairo, I picked up several oriental manuscripts which I have still by me.
1730. Vanbrugh, Provoked Husband, iv. Feyther, an you doan't come quickly the meat will be coaled; and I'd fain pick a bit with you.
1749. Smollett, Gil Bias [Routledge (1866), 169]. I halted . . . to recruit a little under the trees. At one of these baits I picked up two young gentlemen who were chatting at their ease. Ibid., 375. As long as I had money . . . my landlord was cap in hand; but . . . the funds low he became high and mighty, picked a German quarrel with me, and . . . begged . . . me to march out of his house.
1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn], 25. Children and chickens must be always picking.
1786. Capt. Morris, Lyra Urban. (1848), i. 80-2. For me, I protest, if it wasn't for shame, I could pick till tomorrow at dinner. Ibid. I hope from their budget they'll pick out a song, While I pick a little more dinner.
b. 1790. Busy Bee, 'Flash Man of St. Giles's.' She pick'd up the flats as they passed by.
1790. Bruce, Source of the Nile, i. 195. I picked up courage, and . . . said, without trepidation, 'What men are these before?'
1855. Browning, Men and Women, 'An Epistle.' Karshish the picker-up of learning's crumbs.
1888. Texas Siftings, 7 July. The act closes by the party picking off 200 Indians with unerring aim.
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 23. I'm just tidy myself, flush of tin, with no end of a thunderin' pick.
Pick-a-back (pickback, pick-a-pack,
or pickpack), adv. (colloquial).—On
the back or shoulders:
as a pack.
1558. Foxe, Acts and Mon. [Cattley (1843), i. 30]. Carried pick-back on men's shoulders.
