pickup

American  

[pik-uhp] / ˈpɪkˌʌp /

noun

• pickups
  plural

1. an improvement, as in health, business conditions, work, production, etc.

2. Informal. pick-me-up.

3. Informal. a casual, usually unintroduced acquaintance, often one made in hope of a sexual relationship.

4. an instance of stopping for or taking aboard passengers or freight, as by a train, ship, taxicab, etc., especially an instance of taking freight or a shipment of goods onto a truck.

5. the person, freight, or shipment so taken aboard.

   The cab driver had a pickup at the airport who wanted to be driven to the docks.

6. Automotive.

   1. capacity for rapid acceleration.

   2. acceleration; increase in speed.

   3. Also called pickup truck. a small truck with a low-sided open body, used for deliveries and light hauling.

7. Baseball. the act of fielding a ball after it hits the ground.

8. Also called cartridge. a small device attached to the end of a phonograph tone arm that contains a stylus and the mechanism that translates the movement of the stylus in a record groove into a changing electrical voltage.

9. Radio.

   1. the act of receiving sound waves in the transmitting set in order to change them into electrical waves.

   2. a receiving or recording device.

   3. the place from which a broadcast is being transmitted.

   4. interference.

10. Television.

    1. the change of light energy into electrical energy in a television camera.

    2. camera tube.

    3. a telecast made directly from the scene of an action.

11. a hitchhiker.

12. Metalworking. (in the cold-drawing of metal) the adhesion of particles of the metal to the die or plug.

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adjective

1. composed of or employing whatever persons are available on a more or less impromptu basis.

   a pickup game of baseball; a pickup dance band.

2. using whatever ingredients are handy or available.

   a Sunday night pickup supper.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pickups
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pickup

First recorded in 1855–60; noun use of verb phrase pick up

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Explanation

A pickup is a truck with an open bed, perfect for helping a friend move into a new apartment. It's also the act of picking something up — so you might make the furniture pickup in your pickup. The meanings of pickup include takeout: "I ordered the pad Thai for pickup." It also means "acceleration," like your dad's speedy car with amazing pickup or the pickup in sales at your lemonade stand on a hot day. And in sports a pickup game is impromptu and casual. As for a light truck with a closed cab, pickup is short for pickup truck, named after how handy it is for picking things up and delivering them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pickup pickups

It turns out, to make Ford Motor’s electric pickup truck a sales champion, the company just had to stop making it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

By raising borrowing costs, central bankers hope to minimize what they refer to as “second-round effects,” or a pickup in wages that prompts businesses to raise prices as they seek to preserve profit margins.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Juvey Mejia, a member of the Task Force for Regional Auto Theft Prevention, said the cartels love heavy-duty pickup trucks and Jeeps.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

“I told him that the second pickup game in Slovenia, what I saw from him, just understanding the game better, reading the game, I think he improved a lot in the summer,” Doncic said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

Rural Route 2 was dotted with pickup trucks meandering toward the towns of Snapfinger and Halleluia, Bay Springs and Puckett.

From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles

Along with Chevy Suburbans, Ford Raptors and Toyota pickups, the vehicles of choice include Cadillac Escalades and BMW SUVs, according to people whose job is to recover them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

GM and Ford Motor have leaned in to selling their more profitable SUVs and pickups as they have largely pulled out of the sedan business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

It is adding off-road-ready versions of its pickups and SUVs, a street-racer style compact Maverick pickup and product tie-ins with Carhartt and Filson outdoor gear.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Boring also said it has finished an industrial tunnel at Tesla’s sprawling factory in Texas that has made it easier to transport finished Cybertruck electric pickups.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

Mud was four feet deep in some houses, and folks’ pickups and mobile homes were swept away.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

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Related Words

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