pick over

1. Sort out, examine item by item, as in Dad hates to pick over the beans one by one. This term is sometimes put as picked over, describing something that has already been selected from (as in They have almost nothing left; the stock of bathing suits has been picked over). [First half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

With this fourth movie, the Warren lore has been so thoroughly picked over, the tropes and rhythms now so ingrained, the jump scares end up feeling routine at best.

From Los Angeles Times

There isn’t much about this case that hasn’t been picked over or dramatically reenacted through third parties.

From Salon

First, in terms of gerrymandering, the low-hanging fruit is already picked over.

From Salon

A transcript from the two-hour-long meeting, where the itemised report was picked over, reveals a heated exchange between Lochridge and Rush.

From BBC

In the eight years since Miller rose to fame and became an outsized antagonist on the American left, his Santa Monica villain origin story has been exhaustively documented, picked over and reanalyzed.

From Los Angeles Times