pick up

Verb

pick up (third-person singular simple present picks up, present participle picking up, simple past and past participle picked up)

1. (transitive) To lift; to grasp and raise.
   • When you pick up the bag, make sure to support the bottom.
   • Evidently some, or all, of the boars immolated themselves, for the train crew are reported to have picked up three dead boars and continued to Sézanne, the next stop, where they gave them to the local hospital cooks.1957 December, “Wild Boars Charge French Train”, in Railway Magazine, page 840

   Antonyms:

   put down

2. (transitive) To collect or purchase an object, especially in passing.
   • Can you pick up a pint of milk on your way home?
   • "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a...1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC

   Antonyms:

   drop off

3. (transitive) To acquire (something) accidentally; to catch or contract (a disease).
   • I picked up a cold on my trip last week.
   • Cars often pick up bits of road tar and asphalt, dried bugs, tree sap, or other debris that’s hard to remove with regular car wash soap.2020 April 16, Thom Dunn, Rik Paul, “How to Wash and Detail a Car the Right Way”, in The New York Times—Wirecutter
   1. (transitive) To be caught or accused of wrongdoing, usually criminal charges.
      • He picked up a parole violation last month.
4. (intransitive, transitive) To clean up; to return to an organized state.
   • You made a mess, aren't you going to pick up after yourself?
   • The floor was strewn with bright snips of origami paper, a crumpled drawing, and one dirty sock, which Amy now shoved under the bed with her foot. ¶ "You're lucky," said Marla. "My mother makes me pick up my room every single day."1967, Beverly Cleary, Mitch and Amy, HarperCollins, published 2009, →ISBN, page 28

   Antonyms:

   mess up

5. (transitive) To collect a passenger.
   • I'll pick you up outside the library.
   • After picking up a few passengers (most likely heading into Exeter for shopping) and setting a few off (for a day at the beach), we get the 'right away' and continue along the sea wall with its iconic sandstone cliffs on the left.2023 August 23, Pip Dunn, “The last bastion of the HST 'Castles'”, in RAIL, number 990, page 49

   Antonyms:

   drop off

6. (transitive) To collect and detain (a suspect).
   • The cops have picked up the man they were looking for.
7. (transitive) To obtain and publish a story, news item, etc.
   • The story does not seem to have been widely picked up.
   • News of this notice from the university was picked up by local media and had the effect of raising the ire of some citizens who saw this as an attack on ‘Chinese heritage’[.]2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 3
8. (intransitive) To improve, increase, or speed up.
   • Prices seem to be picking up again.
   • I was in bed sick this morning, but I'm picking up now.
9. (intransitive) To restart or resume.
   • Let's pick up where we left off yesterday.
   • The plot picks up where the last film left off. The High Table, the organisation that controls crime around the world, has a multi-million-dollar contract out on Wick, who killed a High Table member.2023 March 14, Caryn James, “John Wick: Chapter 4: 'Soars above most action films'”, in BBC
10. To reach and continue along (a road).
    • Walter decided the best route home was to pick up the A5.
    • Miller brought his car from the underground garage and threaded a way through London's traffic to pick up the A5.1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 45
11. (transitive) To learn, to grasp; to begin to understand; to realize.
    • It looks complicated, but you'll soon pick it up.

    Synonyms:

    learn

12. (transitive) To receive (a radio signal or the like).
    • With the new antenna, I can pick up stations all the way from Omaha.