pick-off

[ pik-awf, -of ]

noun
  1. Baseball. a play in which a base runner, caught off base, is tagged out by an infielder on a quick throw, usually from the pitcher or catcher.

  2. Electronics. a mechanism that senses mechanical motion and produces a corresponding electric signal.

Origin of pick-off

1
First recorded in 1935–40; noun use of verb phrase pick off

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for pick off

pick off

verb
  1. (tr, adverb) to aim at and shoot one by one

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with pick-off

pick-off

Shoot after singling out, as in The hunter picked off the ducks one by one. [Early 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.