pick-off
noun
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.
pick-off
American
[pik-awf, -of]
/ ˈpɪkˌɔf, -ˌɒf /
noun
-
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.
-
Electronics. a mechanism that senses mechanical motion and produces a corresponding electric signal.
pick off
British
verb
pick off
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of pick-off
First recorded in 1935–40; noun use of verb phrase pick off
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.
See Examples For:
Snell gave up one hit, a single to Sal Stewart, which he quickly erased with a successful pick-off that caught Stewart in an inning-ending run-down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
The bases are slightly bigger this year, but that’s a change you won’t notice, and MLB has also limited pick-off attempts with runners on base, which will marginally speed up play as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2023
Playing under baseball’s new rules including a pitch clock, no defensive shifts, larger bases and limited pick-off moves, the Mariners defeated the Padres in a game that took just 2 hours and 29 minutes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
An inning later, Gonzales’ throwing error on a pick-off attempt advanced Ketel Marte to third, and he scored on Carson Kelly’s sacrifice fly.
From Fox News ● Sep. 11, 2021
Cody walked Kyle Seager in the second inning, then threw a pick-off attempt wide to advance him to second.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 5, 2020
Navy decommissioned its last battleship in 1992, after the military recognized that battleships had become sitting ducks, vulnerable to modern military munitions that could pick off the vessel from the sky.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
Armed with a virtually unlimited war chest, the professor would pick off the top scientists at less well financed labs—starting, presumably, with DeepMind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
BigBear can certainly pick off smaller, more specialized government contracts, however, and even has a partnership with Palantir.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025
Now, however, the court has granted classwide relief, at least for now, to ensure that the government can’t pick off non-plaintiffs and quietly fly them to El Salvador.
From Slate ● May 16, 2025
A stand offered for sale fruits and vegetables that in Macún I’d been able to pick off the trees.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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.
