picador
Americannoun
plural
picadors,plural
picadoresnoun
Etymology
Origin of picador
1790–1800; < Spanish: literally, pricker, equivalent to pic ( ar ) to prick ( see pique 1) + -ador < Latin -ātor -ator
Explanation
A picador is a bullfighter with a particular job: to jab the bull with a sharp spear, in order to get him angry and riled up. You are only likely to come across the word picador in the context of bullfighting. There are usually two picadors on horseback who poke the bull with lances called picas to get him really mad before his confrontation with the matador, who is the main bullfighter. In Spanish, picador means "pricker" or "piercer," from picar, "to pierce."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The books, originally published between 1998 and 2007, were resurrected this year by Picador.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
In 2022 Clanchy split from Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan and her publisher of more than 20 years.
From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025
Her publisher Picador agreed the objections were "instructive and clear-sighted"; eventually, it withdrew the book from publication.
From Salon • Jul. 30, 2022
Editors at Picador in Australia approached Boochani about writing a memoir; Boochani replied that he was already working on a more genre-bending book.
From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2020
"Washington Post," "Picador," and others, are all stirring works; his best, I think, is a deeply patriotic march, "The Stars and Stripes Forever."
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
