picking
[pik-ing]
- the act of a person or thing that picks.
- something that is or may be picked or picked up.
- the amount picked.
- pickings,
- scraps or gleanings: the pickings of a feast.
- profits or gains; spoils.
Origin of picking
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pickings
Contemporary Examples
“The pickings were kind of slim for Reagan,” recalls Pitney.
The terrain is mucky, and the pickings are slim; patience and boredom are a part of the hunt.
If the grand pooh-bahs of the GOP think they can find someone to push her aside, their pickings seem drearily slim.
After that, the pickings are slim and involve officials far less famous than the ubiquitous Palin.
Historical Examples
Guinea a week and the pickings; and you go tomorrow night on trial.
The ChristianHall Caine
But the pickings, even here, were scanty, and loans hard to obtain.
The Crimson TideRobert W. Chambers
Jim Dilks and his wreckers must be over here looking for pickings.
Darry the Life SaverFrank V. Webster
The salesmen collected and in turn got forty per cent of the pickings.
Secret ArmiesJohn L. Spivak
The last two or three pickings are thin and only secured once a week.
Mushrooms: how to grow themWilliam Falconer
pickings
- (sometimes singular) money, profits, etc, acquired easily or by more or less dishonest means; spoils
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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