picket line
Syllables: pick·et line/ˈpɪkɪt laɪn/US/ˈpɪkɪt ˌlaɪn/
picket line noun: a line or rope held by one or many pickets, chiefly one used for tethering horses.
Noun
picket line (plural picket lines)
- A line or rope held by one or many pickets, chiefly one used for tethering horses.
- A barrier or fortification formed by pickets; a stockade.
- A boundary guarded by a picket (unit of soldiers).
- A boundary created by workers participating in a strike, generally at the workplace entrance, which other workers are asked not to pass.
- RMT union members form a picket line outside Birmingham New Street on July 27, as part of a national dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.2022 August 10, “Network News: RMT's Lynch raises the prospect of a General Strike”, in RAIL, number 963, page 7, photo caption
Forms of picket line
| plural | picket lines |
|---|
Origin of picket line
From picket (“stake driven into the ground; soldier or small unit of soldiers assigned to perform a duty; protester positioned outside a workplace, etc., during a strike; the protest itself”) + line.
Questions about picket line
- What does picket line mean?
- Picket line means a line or rope held by one or many pickets, chiefly one used for tethering horses.
- What part of speech is picket line?
- Picket line is a noun.
- How do you pronounce picket line?
- Picket line is pronounced /ˈpɪkɪt laɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of picket line?
- The plural of picket line is picket lines.
Words near picket line in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: picket line (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)-Vealhurl-picket line.wav.
Cite this entry: “picket line.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/picket_line. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.