pick over

Idioms  

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]

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Example Sentences

As demand waned in the following years, companies conducted mass layoffs, leading private-equity firms to swoop in to pick over the remains of distressed assets.

From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026

You can pick over the entrails of the inflation numbers looking for bad omens, but I’m ever less convinced that anybody, myself included, understands inflation well enough to do this in a useful way.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 27, 2022

He plotted on logarithmic paper every trade involving a draft pick over the previous four years.

From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2022

Even though Allen lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in their head-to-head matchup, Simms still believes Allen is the pick over the former Super Bowl MVP.

From Fox News • Mar. 6, 2022

For the rest of the day she remained in the kitchen, unable to watch the miscellaneous horde of yard sale scavengers pick over her personal possessions.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides