picks

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of pick.

   He picks his words carefully before answering a tough question.

   The software picks the fastest route based on live traffic.

   Note

   Whatever the verb is doing, whether plucking fruit, gathering things from here and there, or choosing among options, the -s appears only after a singular third-person subject: she picks, the software picks. Every other present-tense subject takes bare pick (I pick, they pick). In questions and negatives the ending moves onto does, so it becomes does she pick? and she doesn't pick.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of pick.

   The miners shouldered their picks and headed down into the shaft.

   Among this season's picks, three albums quickly became bestsellers.

   Note

   One spelling covers a whole toolbox: picks can be pickaxes on a miner's shoulder, plectrums for a guitar, lock picks, pointed hammers for dressing millstones, wide-toothed combs for tightly curled hair, or, in slang, anchors. Each takes the same regular -s. The identical spelling also serves the verb in "she picks". A word like the or their in front marks the noun, and a singular subject marks the verb.

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