Word.ws English Dictionary

picking up the phone

picking up the phone is the present participle and gerund of pick up the phone.

Meaning of pick up the phone

Verb

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

  1. To pick up the receiver of a telephone, generally with the intention of making a phone call.
    • These deals won't last, so don't wait! Pick up the phone and dial Big Harry today! He'll find the perfect car for you!
    Antonyms:
    hang up
  2. To answer an incoming telephone call.
    • She dialed nervously, praying that Grandma would pick up the phone and everything would turn out OK.
    Antonyms:
    hang up

Questions about picking up the phone

What is picking up the phone the present participle and gerund of?
Picking up the phone is the present participle and gerund of pick up the phone.

Words near picking up the phone in the dictionary

  1. picking up steam
  2. picking up stitches
  3. picking up the ball and running with it
  4. picking up the mantle
  5. picking up the pace
  6. picking up the phone
  7. picking up the pieces
  8. picking up the slack
  9. picking up the tab
  10. picking up the threads
  11. picking up the threads of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: picking up the phone (page history and authors); pick up the phone (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.

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