Word.ws English Dictionary

pick-up

/ˈpɪkʌp/

pick-up is the alternative form of pickup.

Meaning of pickup

Noun

pickup (countable and uncountable, plural pickups)

  1. In a record player, an electromagnetic component that converts the needle vibrations into an electrical signal.
    Synonyms:
    phono cartridge
  2. Electromagnetic coil receiver of metal string oscillations.
  3. The reception of sound, etc. by such a device.
    • This microphone has very weak pickup.
  4. (attributive, usually) Impromptu or ad hoc, especially of sports games and teams made up of randomly selected players.
    • Rather than join a basketball league, James decided to play pickup.
  5. An instance of approaching someone and engaging in romantic flirtation and courting with the intent to pursue romance, a date, or a sexual encounter.
    • Hey, thanks for the drink, but if this is a pickup, I'm not interested.
  6. A person successfully approached in this manner for romance or sex.
    • "Good Lord! I'm not stopping you from taking on all the pick-ups that come your way."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 4

See all 16 meanings of pickup

Forms of pick-up

pluralpick-ups

Words formed from pick-up

Phrases with pick-up

Questions about pick-up

What is pick-up the alternative form of?
Pick-up is the alternative form of pickup.
How do you pronounce pick-up?
Pick-up is pronounced /ˈpɪkʌp/.

Words near pick-up in the dictionary

  1. pick-to-carton
  2. pick-to-light
  3. pick-to-order
  4. pick-to-tote
  5. pick-to-voice
  6. pick-up
  7. pick-up game
  8. pick-up games
  9. pick-up goods
  10. pick-up joint
  11. pick-up joints

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pick-up (page history and authors); pickup (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-pick-up.wav.

Cite this entry: “pick-up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pick-up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.