pick up

phrasal verb · pick-up noun

Often confused with pickup

25 meanings of pick up

1
phrasal verbtransitive
To take hold of something and lift it from where it lies.
The crane picked up the container and swung it onto the ship.
Pick up the pan by the handle, not by the rim.
Similarlift, hoist, raise
Oppositelower, drop
Note
The hands-on meaning the others play on, and the place to learn the grammar they share: the object can sit after up or between the words, pick up the bag or pick the bag up, but a pronoun must go in the middle, pick it up, never pick up it. Its plain opposite is put down.
2
fetchphrasal verbtransitive
To collect something, especially by stopping for it on the way somewhere.
She stopped to pick up the tickets at the box office.
The courier will pick up the package tomorrow morning.
Similarcollect, fetch, get, retrieve
Oppositedeliver
3
give a ridephrasal verbtransitive
To collect a passenger, stopping so that they can get into a vehicle.
A taxi picked up the two of them at the airport.
The ferry picks up foot passengers at the north pier.
Similarcollect, fetch, get
Oppositedrop
4
answer a callphrasal verbtransitive or intransitive
To answer a ringing telephone, or to answer a call.
She let it ring four times before she picked up.
He picked up the phone on the first ring.
Similaranswer
5
improvephrasal verbintransitive
To improve, increase, or gather speed.
Business picks up again once the tourists arrive.
Her mood picked up as soon as the sun came out.
Similarimprove, recover, rally, revive, brighten
Oppositedecline, slump, worsen, slow
6
learnphrasal verbtransitive
To learn or come to understand something; to grasp or realize it.
He picked up enough Spanish to get by in a month.
You'll pick up the rhythm of the job in a few days.
Similarlearn
7
tidyphrasal verbtransitive or intransitive
To tidy a place, putting things back where they belong, or to clean up after oneself.
We picked up the living room before the guests arrived.
The campers picked up after themselves and left no trace.
Similartidy, clean, straighten
8
start againphrasal verbintransitive
To start again or continue after a break.
The story picks up right where the first book ended.
After the fire alarm, the lecture picked up again from the slide it had stopped on.
Similarresume, continue, restart
Note
The fixed partner is where ... left off: let's pick up where we left off, or the plot picks up where the last film left off. Reviewers also use it with a time gap and no object, as when a sequel picks up eight years after its predecessor, so the story itself can be the subject.
9
get by accidentphrasal verbtransitive
To acquire something by chance or without intending to, in particular to catch a disease.
Travelers often pick up infections from untreated water.
The sweater had picked up every cat hair in the house.
Similarcatch, contract, acquire, collect, gather
10
other spellingnoun · pick-upcountable or uncountable
Alternative form of pickup.
The guitar's bridge pick-up gives a sharper sound than the neck one.
A pick-up game of basketball started on the court behind the school.
Note
The hyphenated noun carries every meaning of pickup, from the truck to the part that reads a guitar string or a record groove. The hyphen is most at home before another noun, as in a pick-up game, the impromptu kind played by whoever turns up, where it marks the pair as one modifier rather than the verb.

11
noticephrasal verbtransitive
To notice, detect, or make out something, such as a mood or a hint.
The interviewer picked up a slight hesitation before the answer.
A good editor will pick up inconsistencies a reader would never see.
Similarnotice, detect, spot, sense, catch
Oppositemiss, overlook
Note
What gets picked up is usually faint, a mood, a hesitation, a small slip, and the longer pick up on means the same: pick up on a hint, pick up on his nervousness. Put a person between the words and the meaning changes, since picking someone up on their grammar is the fault-finding sense.
12
receive signalphrasal verbtransitive
To receive a radio signal, a broadcast, or something similar.
The ship's receiver picked up a distress call just after midnight.
With a bigger dish you can pick up satellites far to the south.
Similarreceive, detect, catch
13
flirtphrasal verbtransitive or intransitivewith on
To meet and seduce someone for romantic or sexual purposes, especially in a social setting such as a bar.
He tried to pick up a stranger at the hotel bar and got nowhere.
Nobody goes to that club just to dance; everyone is there to pick up.
Similarseduce
Note
Picking someone up strictly means succeeding, which is why the attempt is so often phrased with try: trying to pick up a woman in a bar, tried to pick up a stranger and got nowhere. Hit on names the approach alone. The verb also works without an object, for the purpose of a night out: everyone is there to pick up.
14
payphrasal verbtransitive
To pay for something, such as a meal or a bill.
The firm picked up the hotel costs for everyone who flew in for the conference.
Sponsors pick up most of the expenses, so the players travel for free.
Similarcover, pay, fund, meet
15
arrestphrasal verbtransitive
Of the police, to take a suspect into custody.
Detectives picked up the driver at his apartment the next morning.
Patrols were told to pick up anyone matching the description.
Similararrest, detain, apprehend, nab
Oppositerelease
16
report (news)phrasal verbtransitive
Of a news outlet, to obtain a story or news item and run it.
The claim was picked up by several wire services within the hour.
Editors pick up items from rival outlets all the time, usually with a credit.
Similarcarry, run
Note
Newsrooms use it for a story's travel from one outlet to the next, and it is very often passive: news was picked up by local media, or a story was not widely picked up. The outlet that picks an item up did not break it, so the phrase measures how far news has spread, not where it started.
17
scorephrasal verbtransitive
To notch up a result such as a win or a point.
The visitors picked up a valuable away point despite playing the second half with ten men.
Teams that pick up three wins in a row move into the playoff spots.
Similarearn, secure, gain, win, collect
Oppositedrop, lose
18
foul (sports)phrasal verbtransitive
In sports, to incur a foul by the way one plays.
The center picked up his third foul before halftime and spent the rest of the half on the bench.
Defenders who pick up an early foul have to play the rest of the match cautiously.
Similarcommit, incur, get
Note
The foul is the object, and the verb keeps count: a player picks up an early foul, then a third before halftime, and is benched. The idiom treats a foul as something gathered almost by accident, the way catching a cold is, though the referee would say the player earned it.
19
join roadphrasal verbtransitive
To join a road and follow it onward.
After the detour, the bus picked up the main road again at the next junction.
Cyclists who pick up the old canal road avoid the traffic entirely.
Similarjoin
Oppositeleave
20
make happierphrasal verbtransitive
To lift someone's spirits, making them less despondent.
Nothing picks her up like an hour in the garden after work.
Coaches know a small win can pick up a team that has lost its confidence.
Similarlift, cheer, hearten, buoy, revive
Oppositedepress, dishearten, discourage, deflate
21
criticizephrasal verbtransitive
To criticize a person by pointing out their behavior, habits, or actions, with the fault introduced by on.
The editor picked him up on a date that was off by a century.
Reviewers who pick authors up on their grammar rarely say much about the argument.
Similarcorrect, challenge, criticize
22
phrasal verbintransitive
Of a telephone or a number, to receive calls and work as it should.
The landline stopped picking up after the storm knocked out the lines.
Numbers that don't pick up for a week are removed from the list.
Similarwork
Note
Here the phone or the number is the subject, not the person: his home number isn't picking up. The line between this and answering a call blurs in practice, since a number that isn't picking up may be dead, or may simply be ringing with nobody there to answer it.
23
guard (soccer)phrasal verbtransitive
In soccer, to mark an opponent, following them closely to defend against them.
The full-back failed to pick up the winger as he made a late run into the box.
Each defender picked up a man at the set piece, but the midfielder arrived unmarked.
Similarmark, track, cover
Note
Commentators reach for it at corners and free kicks, when every attacker in the box has to be tracked, and it is most often heard after a failure: no one picked up Shotton, who was free to power a header over. Mark says the same thing more formally; pick up is the match-report verb.
24
control (ball)phrasal verbtransitive
To take physical control of something, such as a loose ball in play.
She picked up the ball on the edge of the area and drove at the defense.
Midfielders who pick up possession in their own half have time to look up.
Similarcollect, gather, win, gain
Oppositelose
25
promote (military)phrasal verbUStransitive
In the US armed forces, to select for promotion someone who had previously been passed over.
She was passed over once, then picked up by the next board and promoted to major.
Boards sometimes pick up previously passed-over officers whose records have improved.
Similarselect
Note
American service language pairs it with passed over: an officer is passed over by one selection board, then picked up by a later one. Congressional hearings of 1937 and 1938 already use the pair, and the verb is usually passive, since the board does the picking.

Practice

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