pickup

[pik-uhp]

noun

1. an improvement, as in health, business conditions, work, production, etc.

2. Informal.,  pick-me-up.

3. Informal.,  a casual, usually unintroduced acquaintance, often one made in hope of a sexual relationship.

4. an instance of stopping for or taking aboard passengers or freight, as by a train, ship, taxicab, etc., especially an instance of taking freight or a shipment of goods onto a truck.

5. the person, freight, or shipment so taken aboard.

   The cab driver had a pickup at the airport who wanted to be driven to the docks.

6. Automotive.

   1. capacity for rapid acceleration.

   2. acceleration; increase in speed.

   3. Also called pickup truck. a small truck with a low-sided open body, used for deliveries and light hauling.

7. Baseball.,  the act of fielding a ball after it hits the ground.

8. Also called cartridge. a small device attached to the end of a phonograph tone arm that contains a stylus and the mechanism that translates the movement of the stylus in a record groove into a changing electrical voltage.

9. Radio.

   1. the act of receiving sound waves in the transmitting set in order to change them into electrical waves.

   2. a receiving or recording device.

   3. the place from which a broadcast is being transmitted.

   4. interference.

10. Television.

    1. the change of light energy into electrical energy in a television camera.

    2. camera tube.

    3. a telecast made directly from the scene of an action.

11. a hitchhiker.

12. Metalworking.,  (in the cold-drawing of metal) the adhesion of particles of the metal to the die or plug.

adjective

1. composed of or employing whatever persons are available on a more or less impromptu basis.

   a pickup game of baseball; a pickup dance band.

2. using whatever ingredients are handy or available.

   a Sunday night pickup supper.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pickup¹

First recorded in 1855–60; noun use of verb phrase pick up

Example Sentences

Services available to tenants for a fee include personal training and private yoga instruction, dry cleaning pickup and delivery, car washing, dog walking, grocery delivery and housekeeping.

From Los Angeles Times

A rented Nissan Frontier pickup, which he was driving that day, was spotted on surveillance video sometime after the same day in Grand Terrace.

From Los Angeles Times

They were blindfolded, thrown into the backs of 4×4 pickup trucks and driven to a small remote prison.

From Salon

He pulled a couple of windsurfing boards from the back of a pickup and began explaining the finer points of a northward versus a westward wind.

From Salon

Mohammad and the other crewmen secured the loose rigging and packed their equipment before walking to their pickup truck for the ride home.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• acceleration