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.
First recorded in 1935–40; noun use of verb phrase pick off
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mookie Betts sparked the winning rally off Royals left-hander Will Smith with a one-out single to left field, and he took second on Smith’s errant pick-off throw to first.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2024
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
So, the dugout decided to call for a pick-off move, with bench coach Bob Geren signaling it in with a coded touch of his nose and ears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2022
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
PLA engineers could fail to get the technology to work in a real wartime scenario, making China’s robot squadrons easy for enemies to pick off or disable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 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
JimmyTrotter said, “Don’t worry about Miss Trotter. Great-granny goes out with her deer rifle. Can still pick off a rabbit every now and then.”
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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.
