picklen.1int.adj.
/ˈpɪkl/, U.S. /ˈpɪk(ə)l/ A. n.1 (and int.)
I. A sauce, preserve, etc.
1.
a. Originally: †a spicy sauce served with meat (obsolete). Later: a salt or acid liquid (usually brine or vinegar, frequently seasoned or spiced) in which food, esp. vegetables or fruit, is preserved; (occasionally) any liquid used to preserve something.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > [noun] > liquid for
pickle1440
salsure1658
bing-brine1745
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 397 Pykyl, sawce, picula [v.r. separium].
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 1027 Seuen knaue childre, Choppid in a chargour of chalke-whytt syluer, With pekill & powdyre of precious spycez.
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. lxxij/2 (heading) To make a pigell to kepe freshe sturgen in.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 254/1 Pyccle sauce, savlmure.
1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 316 They did eate, a Gripe in potage, and a Goose in pickle.
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique ii. li. 349 A pickle..made of two parts of vineger, and one of salt brine.
1678 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) App. Kag, or Keg..a large Vessel for the laying of Sturgeon in pickle.
1728 E. Smith Compl. Housewife (ed. 2) 63 Make a Pickle of Vinegar, Salt, whole Pepper, Cloves, Mace, and boil it, and pour it on the Mangoes.
1796 Duke of Rutland Jrnl. 16 July in Tour N. Parts Great Brit. (1813) 4 The corpse was done up in a pickle, and the face wrapped up in a sear cloth.
1834 J. M. Peck Gaz. Illinois 42 Few families in the west and south put up their pork in salt pickle.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 354/2 Effected by immersing the meat in a solution of salt or pickle.
1906 U. Sinclair Jungle v. 72 They set Antanas with his mop slopping the pickle into a hole that connected with a sink, where it was caught and used over again forever.
1983 T. Pratchett Colour of Magic 96 He'd seen salamanders before... They had..been floating in a jar of pickle in the curiobiological museum.
1998 S. Telford In a World a wir Ane 2 A bunghole was drilled into the barrel's side and the pickle drained off.
b. figurative and in figurative contexts.
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1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet sig. Ev I but he hath..arguments that haue been these twentie yeres in pickle.
1632 P. Hausted Rivall Friends iv. xv Are you drawne drie so quickly, Mr Lickthumbe? Haue you no more good names in pickle for me?
1650 Woodstock Scuffle sig. A2v Nothing else is History But pickle of Antiquity Where things are kept in Memory from stincking.
1686 E. Taylor Poems (1960) 31 [He] in the Belly of this Dismall Cloud, Of Woes in Pickle is gulpht up, whose Gall He dranke up quite.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola I. i. xvi. 280 I have a few more adventures in pickle for him..which I hope will drive his inquiring nostrils to another quarter of the city.
1885 Daily News 3 Nov. 5/2 He will return to the tranquil enjoyment of his 1,000,000 dollars now in pickle, it is said, in the English funds.
1975 M. Bradbury Hist. Man viii. 131 He is an item, preserved in some extraordinary historical pickle, from the nineteen-fifties or before.
2002 Guardian (Nexis) 9 Feb. 5 We were having a truly spiffing time, staying in a little bit of England preserved in pickle.
c. a rod in pickle (and variants): a punishment kept in reserve, ready to be inflicted when required. See also rod n.1 Phrases 1b.
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society > authority > punishment > [noun] > punishment in store
a rod in pickle (also lye, piss)?1553
a rod in piss?1553
a rod in pickle1625
1625 B. Spenser Vox Civitatis 26 I feare God hath worse rods in pickell for you.
1689 Irish Hudibras 88 A little Devil..always has her Rods in pickle, If they presume, their Ribs to tickle.
1764 K. O'Hara Midas ii. 35 Well, master Pol I'll tickle, For him, at least, I have a rod in pickle.
1798 Anti-Jacobin 5 Mar. 135/2 He keeps for Pitt a rod in pickle.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) (at cited word) This is a threatening admonition for an idle or truant boy. ‘There's a stick i pickle for thee my lad.’
1881 E. Lynn Linton Rebel of Family II. vii It was only after the last good word of glad tidings had been said that the rod was taken out of the pickle.
1918 E. Pound in Sel. Ess. (1968) 410 So there are new rods in pickle for the old fat-stomached contingent and for the cardboard generation.
1996 Sporting Life (Nexis) 29 Feb. 5 FitzGerald has a couple of other rods in pickle for Cheltenham.
2.
a. A whole vegetable, or a piece of one, that has been preserved in vinegar, brine, etc. In later use usually spec.: (chiefly North American) a pickled cucumber or gherkin. Frequently in plural.In early use not always easy to distinguish from sense A. 2b.
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1663 J. Mayne tr. Lucian Part of Lucian sig. Ff4v At your next returne from Ægypt, remember to bring us some fine Nile pickles, or perfumes from Canopus, or [etc.].
1670 H. Wolley Queen-like Closet 362 A fine Sallad of divers sorts of Herbs and Pickles.
1712 W. King Let. in Art of Cookery (ed. 2) 106 The Herb Fenugreek, with Pickles, Oyl and Wine, was a Roman dainty.
1758 T. Warton Idler 2 Dec. 273 Received a present of pickles from Miss Pilcocks.
1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 64 Mallows..occupied one of the first ranks among pickles.
1897 New Eng. Mag. July 563/1 He often surveyed the jar [sc. the pickle-jar], though never under any circumstances would he eat a pickle.
1914 E. Stewart Lett. Woman Homesteader 281 The young tender ones [sc. squashes] make splendid pickles.
1956 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 31 May Pickles became first among the canned vegetables last year when they caught up with, and passed, corn.
1987 P. Benson Levels xvi. 116 We ate cold pork pie and pickles for lunch.
2004 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 29 Aug. b1 Today's studs would sooner immerse themselves in a vat of pickles than spray themselves with Aqua Velva or Old Spice.
b. A preparation of fruit or vegetables, frequently of a specified type, preserved in vinegar, brine, etc., esp. for use as a relish.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > relish > [noun] > pickles or chutney
achar1598
conditurea1682
pickle1693
chutney1813
mixed pickles1857
1693 J. Dryden Examen Poeticum 303 Mango's and Limes, whose nourishment is little, Tho' not for Food, are yet preserv'd for Pickle.
1699 J. Evelyn Acetaria 22 Gerckems..muriated with the Seeds of Dill, and the Mango Pickle.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 26 The Keys of the Ash are a good Pickle while young and tender; and when near ripe.
1776 Ann. Reg. 1775 i. 190 Cabbages, made into sour-crout, a kind of pickle, but used, in lieu of common food, in some parts of Germany.
1824 M. Randolph Virginia House-wife 39 Lay it in a pan with a pint of red wine and a large spoonful of lemon pickle.
1888 S. D. Smedes Mem. Southern Planter (ed. 2) 205 He was..starving for something good to eat,—would we give him some pickle?
1911 W. Owen Let. 25 Sept. (1967) 85 In the kitchen making mushroom pickle.
1997 A. Sivanandan When Memory Dies ii. i. 126 She would show me how to work the ice-cream machine or make wood-apple pickle.
3. A chemical solution used for pickling (pickle v.2 4a); esp. an acid used for cleaning metal.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing agents > [noun] > water or solutions > types of solution
lyea700
capital?a1425
buck1562
lessive1597
cheese-water1599
buck-lye1632
pickle1782
lysol1891
1782 J. Cockshutt in Ann. Sci. (1955) 11 151 [The iron plates] are redipt in the Solution which the Workmen call Pickle.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 860 These plates, while still warm, are rubbed over with a dilute acid or pickle.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 299/2 A dipper had..left a quantity of work all night in the ‘pickle’ or cleansing solution.
1967 O. Almeida Metalworking ix. 145 The disc is softened by heating to dull red and quenching in..dilute sulphuric acid..known as ‘pickle’.
1988 D. Rees GCSE CDT—Design & Realisation xvi. 158 The pickle is kept in an earthenware dish or bath and covered with a wooden lid.
II. Extended uses.
4. † b. gen. Condition, trim, guise. Obsolete.
a. A (usually disagreeable) condition or situation; a plight, a predicament. Now colloquial.The exact sense in quot. 1562 is unclear.
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the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] > difficult state of things > predicament or straits
needfulnessc1350
kankedortc1374
pressc1375
needfultya1382
briguec1400
brikec1400
plightc1400
taking?c1425
partyc1440
distrait1477
brakea1529
hot water1537
strait1544
extremes1547
pickle1562
praemunire1595
lock1598
angustiae1653
difficulty1667
scrape1709
premune1758
hole1760
Queer Street1811
warm water1813
strift1815
fix1816
plisky1818
snapper1818
amplush1827
false position1830
bind1851
jackpot1887
tight1896
squeeze1905
jam1914
1562 J. Heywood Three Hundred Epigrammes (new ed.) in Wks. sig. Uiii Man is brickell. Freilties pickell. Poudreth mickell, Seasonyng lickell.
1580 T. Tusser Fiue Hundred Pointes Good Husbandrie (new ed.) f. 52 Reape barlie with sickle, that lies in ill pickle.
1585 J. Foxe Serm. 2 Cor. v. 21 In this pickle lyeth man by nature, that is, all wee that be Adams children.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) v. i. 284 Alo. How cam'st thou in this pickle? Tri. I haue bin in such a pickle since I saw you last, That [etc.] . View more context for this quotation
1658 J. Mennes & J. Smith Wit Restor'd 45 What sad plight are we in? what pickles? That we must drink in conventicles?
1672 H. Herbert Narr. in Camden Misc. (1990) XXX. 323 Their superiours..were in the same pickle.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 302. ⁋11 I am ashamed to be caught in this Pickle.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. iv. ix. 242 She was ashamed to be seen in such a Pickle . View more context for this quotation
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. ii. iv. 211 We drank hard, and returned..in a pretty pickle, that is to say, so so in the upper story.
1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona xxiv. 291 I could see no way out of the pickle I was in.
1926 H. Crane Let. 29 Mar. (1965) 243 I'm in no particular pickle at present.
1955 Times 24 May 4/7 Leicestershire would have been in a pretty pickle without their captain, C. H. Palmer, in their current match with Surrey at Leicester.
1992 Disney Mirror 3 Oct. 5/2 So unless we do somep'n pretty quick, she's goin' to be in a tough pickle!
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the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > pleasing fitness > [noun] > seemliness or propriety
seemlihead?a1366
honestya1398
comeliness1440
seemlityc1440
semblessea1500
elegance1540
seemliness1548
decency1584
handsomeness1595
civility1612
pickle1706
bienseancea1797
formality1834
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Accoutrement Dress, Garb, Pickle.
1800 R. Houlton Wilmore Castle i. iii. 14 Smart [a spruce, dapper, ladies' man-milliner]... Were the charming shopping ladies to see me in this trim and pickle, never more would they suffer me to hand them a cap, or adjust a bonnet.
1846 N. Hawthorne Mosses i. ix. 190 It is difficult to conceive how he keeps himself in any decent pickle.
5.
a. colloquial (chiefly British). A person (usually a boy) who is always causing trouble; a troublesome or mischievous child; †a wild young fellow, a tearaway (obsolete). Also in extended use. Cf. pickled adj. 3.In some instances of little pickle probably after the character of the same name in the popular farce The Spoil'd Child (now usually attributed to Isaac Bickerstaff), first performed in 1790.
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society > authority > lack of subjection > unruliness > [noun] > unruly person > young male
pickle1779
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [noun] > playful or mischievous roguery > young or playful rogue
urchinc1525
rascal1601
limb1625
imp1642
pickle1779
impling1780
rip1781
scamp1808
hempy1818
flibbertigibbet1826
tinker1855
faggot1859
skeezicks1908
1779 Mirror 13 Apr. He took in succession the degrees of a wag, a pickle, and a lad of mettle.
1788 Hist. Schoolboy 72 He told Master Blotch he was a pickle, and dismissed him to his cricket.
1795 Observant Pedestrian II. 114 It [sc. the hole in her stocking] discovered..as pretty a turned leg as any little pickle in the kingdom.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. i. xvii. 161 If the little gentleman is a pickle, they will lay all the blame on your bad management.
1828 J. W. Croker Diary 23 Apr. in Croker Papers (1884) I. 416 The Duke of Cumberland was there, and his son Prince George. This little pickle is about nine.
1837 M. R. Mitford Country Stories (1850) 55 Young Sam Tyler, Jem's eldest hope, a thorough Pickle.
1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 160 Her accomplice Joe Englehart, an unlucky pickle who ‘was always for ill, never for good’.
1879 Appletons' Jrnl. Mar. 274/2 Fanny was..in her youth a little pickle of the most unmanageable description.
1898 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 8 Jan. 6/6 Miss Playwell..manages the children in their dances, looks after the small ones who are too shy to have a good time and makes every blessed little pickle present enjoy himself keenly.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage civ. 546 ‘Ain't I a pickle?’ she cried... ‘What must you think of me? But I can't 'elp meself.’
1928 E. J. Oxenham Abbey Girls win Through viii. 116 Your book made my young sister, who is a dreadful pickle, say she was going to try ‘real hard’ to be as nice as the jolly girls in the story.
2004 Evening Gaz. (Nexis) 9 Aug. 14 He [sc. a dog] was in a terrible state when I got him and I again said: ‘You are a funny little pickle aren't you?’
b. slang. An unpleasant or unattractive woman. rare.
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the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill-naturedness > sourness or bitterness of temper > [noun] > sour-tempered person > woman
pickle1950
1950 E. Partridge Slang To-day & Yesterday (ed. 3) iii. 313 If she is unpopular, she is a pill, a pickle, a lemon.
1970 Women Speaking Apr. 5/1 If a man doesn't like a girl's looks or personality, she's a..pickle, prune, [etc.].
6. In plural. slang (originally and chiefly British). Nonsense, an absurd statement; something ridiculous, or of no account. Frequently as int. (sometimes in more general use, expressing exasperation, etc.). Now rare.
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the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > [noun]
magged talea1387
moonshine1468
trumperyc1485
foolishness1531
trash1542
baggage1545
flim-flam1570
gear1570
rubbisha1576
fiddle-faddle1577
stuff1579
fible-fable1581
balductum1593
pill1608
nonsense1612
skimble-skamble1619
porridge1642
mataeology1656
fiddle-come-faddle1663
apple sauce1672
balderdash1674
flummery1749
slang1762
all my eye1763
diddle-daddle1778
(all) my eye (and) Betty Martin1781
twaddle1782
blancmange1790
fudge1791
twiddle-twaddle1798
bothering1803
fee-faw-fum1811
slip-slop1811
nash-gab1816
flitter-tripe1822
effutiation1823
bladderdash1826
ráiméis1828
fiddlededee1843
pickles1846
rot1846
kelter1847
bosh1850
flummadiddle1850
poppycock1852
Barnum1856
fribble-frabble1859
kibosh1860
skittle1864
cod1866
Collyweston1867
punk1869
slush1869
stupidness1873
bilge-water1878
flapdoodle1878
tommyrot1880
ruck1882
piffle1884
flamdoodle1888
razzmatazz1888
balls1889
pop1890
narrischkeit1892
tosh1892
footle1894
tripe1895
crap1898
bunk1900
junk1906
quatsch1907
bilge1908
B.S.1912
bellywash1913
jazz1913
wash1913
bullshit?1915
kid-stakes1916
hokum1917
bollock1919
bullsh1919
bushwa1920
noise1920
bish-bosh1922
malarkey1923
posh1923
hooey1924
shit1924
heifer dust1927
madam1927
baloney1928
horse feathers1928
phonus-bolonus1929
rhubarb1929
spinach1929
toffeea1930
tomtit1930
hockey1931
phoney baloney1933
moody1934
cockalorum1936
cock1937
mess1937
waffle1937
berley1941
bull dust1943
crud1943
globaloney1943
hubba-hubba1944
pish1944
phooey1946
asswipe1947
chickenshit1947
slag1948
batshit1950
goop1950
slop1952
cack1954
doo-doo1954
cobbler1955
horse shit1955
nyamps1955
pony1956
horse manure1957
waffling1958
bird shit1959
codswallop1959
how's your father1959
dog shit1963
cods1965
shmegegge1968
pucky1970
taradiddle1970
mouthwash1971
wank1974
gobshite1977
mince1985
toss1990
arse1993
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > nonsense! [interjection]
strawc1412
tilly-vallya1529
flam-flirt1590
fiddlestick1600
fiddle-faddle1671
stuff1701
snuff1725
fudge1766
fiddlededeea1784
rats1816
havers1825
humbug1825
gammon1827
rubbish1839
pickles1846
rot1846
skittle1864
slush1869
flapdoodle1878
quatsch1907
phooey1908
tommyrot1931
balls1938
no shit1939
bollocks1940
phonus-bolonus1955
hockey1961
leave it out!1969
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 34 Music is provided... ‘Pickles,’ as the swell draper would say, ‘but they frizzle and mangle music like bricks.’
?1850 H. T. Craven Done Brown 16 Boo. That's all very well, but it won't do, Monsieur Leclef! Fitz. No, that's all pickles.
1898 L. Merrick Actor-Manager v. 66 The rent they ask is a hundred and fifty, but that's all pickles!
1901 H. V. Esmond One Summer's Day i. 7 Chiara. He says he's a great artist—he calls me Cleopatra. Urchin. (scornfully) Cleopatra—pickles!
a1979 in S. King Bachman Bks. (1985) 224 ‘Just shut up.’ ‘Oh, pickles.’
2004 Orange County Reg. (Nexis) 18 Feb. In times of extreme exasperation, she would fume, ‘Oh, fiddlesticks!’ or, if she was really provoked, ‘Oh, pickles!’ or ‘Blick!’
7. U.S. Military slang.
a. A torpedo; an aerial torpedo, or other similarly shaped missile.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > naval weapons and equipment > [noun] > torpedo
torpedo1776
Whitehead1872
fish-torpedo1878
mouldy1916
fish1925
torp1929
pickle1931
kipper1953
1931 Leatherneck Feb. 47 Yeah, but it's just when you least expect it that old Fritz slips you a pickle loaded with TNT.
1967 W. Lord Incredible Victory vii. 141 They wondered how hard it would be taking off with that ‘pickle’, as they invariably called the torpedo.
1991 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 16 Feb. 9 ‘Comin' on the pickle button,’ says a pilot... ‘Fire the pickle whenever,’ answers his weapon systems officer.
b. = pickle button n. at Compounds 2.
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1944 Yachting Mar. 9 Ready to ‘squeeze the pickle’—the torpedo's firing button.
1960 J. Sterling Wake of Wahoo 31 He pressed the ‘scope pickle’ and followed the eyepiece up where it cleared the tubular periscope well.
1986 T. Clancy Red Storm Rising (1988) vii. 95 The quartermaster squeezed the button on the ‘pickle’, transmitting the bearing to the MK-117 fire control computer.
British colloquial = pickled adj. 3. Obsolete.
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the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > roguery > [adjective]
pautenerc1330
palliard1484
limmer?a1513
limmerful?a1513
slovenly?1518
knavish1552
patchingc1555
rascal1566
roguing1566
knaifatic1568
roguish1572
rascally1586
land-loping1587
Scanderbegging1593
cullionly1608
rogorous1609
loseling1624
scoundrel1643
schelmish1654
pickled1683
rapscallionly1699
scoundrelish1705
rapscallion1711
pickle1774
scoundrelly1790
picaresque1822
furciferous1823
scapegrace1830
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [adjective] > playfully or mischievously roguish
pickled1683
pickle1774
hempy1801
impish1834
natkhat1843
puckish1874
gallows1882
gamine1903
1774 R. Warner tr. Plautus Persian ii. ii, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies V. 123 He is a pickle dog, as I've been told.
1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl V. iv. 106 His son, a pickle young dog.
1805 S. J. Pratt Hail Fellow! Well Met! iv. i. 153 A signal given by that pickle rascal, Will, the footman.
Compounds
C1. General attributive and objective.† pickle-boiler n. Obsolete
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1757 W. Thompson Royal Navy-men's Advocate 14 A Cooper and a Pickle-Boiler being two distinct Employments, and quite independent of each other.
pickle bottle n.
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the world > food and drink > food > container for food > [noun] > pickle-pot
pickle pot1761
pickle bottle1771
pickle jar1778
pickle barrel1839
pickler1862
1771 H. Steward Catal. Furnit. Francis Laprimaudaye 20 Three pickle bottles, one dish keeler, chopping stool [etc.].
1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 21 A wide-mouthed pickle-bottle, with air-tight cork.
2003 Hindu (Nexis) 14 May I showed him the pickle bottle. He tasted a bit and ran around with tears streaming down his cheeks.
pickle dealer n.
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society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of provisions > sellers of other provisions
cheesemonger1185
pudding-wife1287
eirmongerc1305
honeyman1510
egg-wife1659
corn-chandler1687
pickle man1714
tea man1736
pickle dealer1791
iceman1807
ice-creamer1851
plum duffer1851
barm-man1913
traiteur1963
1791–3 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1799) I. 116 A Pickle-dealer and an Italian Fidler.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits ix. 154 Amerigo Vespucci, the pickledealer at Seville.
1994 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 3 Apr. 12/4 Brooklyn Avenue had its own Kosher butchers, bakeries, and pickle dealers.
pickle dish n.
ΚΠ
1785 J. Knox View Brit. Empire (ed. 3) I. 265 They shall throw no pickle upon herrings without putting it through the sieve, for which end they shall have with them a small pickle dish, a sieve, and a stick.
1897 Overland Monthly Apr. 382/2 The trail..passes through the center of a basin... It is like a huge oblong pickle dish with one end raised.
2002 Boston Globe (Nexis) 24 Feb. j31 A rare shell-shaped pickle dish with the coat of arms of South Carolina.
pickle farm n.
ΚΠ
1890 Daily News 20 Sept. 3/1 A pickle-farm at the present time of year, with its peeling and brining processes, is an interesting sight.
1994 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 3 Mar. 5 b Commissioners voted 6-0 to table a decision on whether a 470-acre pickle farm..should be included on a list of sites for a new 1,100-bed prison.
pickle jar n.
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the world > food and drink > food > container for food > [noun] > pickle-pot
pickle pot1761
pickle bottle1771
pickle jar1778
pickle barrel1839
pickler1862
1778 J. Hardy Candid Exam. Colic Poitou & Devonshire 76 Common large glazed jugs, pans, pickle-jars, &c. were lately made at New York and Philadelphia, in such plenty, that..some were carried to the West Indies.
1833 T. H. Bayly Musings & Prosings 86 She takes a large pickle jar down from a shelf.
1992 H. Mitchell One Man's Garden ii. 33 A friend has returned a glass pickle jar I forgot I gave him.
pickle room n.
ΚΠ
1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. II. xlvi. 132 From the water-rooms, it is drawn into a second range of vats or rooms, called pickle-rooms.
1906 U. Sinclair Jungle v. 69 He had been approached by a man in one of the corridors of the pickle-rooms of Durham's.
2002 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 17 Dec. 2 He..passes through the pungent-smelling ‘pickle’ room, where hundreds of specimens..are preserved in jars of formaldehyde.
pickle shop n.
ΚΠ
1772 T. Bridges Burlesque Transl. Homer (rev. ed.) 531 He kept before the Trojan war A pickle shop near Temple Bar.
1851 G. A. Sala in Househ. Words 6 Sept. 569/1 The fire is in a narrow street off Soho, in a pickle-shop.
1977 Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 28 Jan. 5/2 A fire..gutted a pickle shop, several bars and a barbequed-chicken restaurant.
pickle tray n.
ΚΠ
1882 Athens (Ohio) Messenger 16 Feb. Pickle tray, Minta Burge; china vases, Bertha Burge.
1998 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 30 Apr. 16 The service..is extremely prompt and attentive, fresh poppadoms..arriving two minutes after they were mentioned along with a pickle tray and onion salad.
pickle tub n.
ΚΠ
1825 R. Cobden Let. 26 Aug. (2007) I. 17 If I was in a facetious humor I should compare this mans face to one that had been laid for a week in a pickle tub.
?1829 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1954) XI. 224 Leaning over a shallow Pickle Tub on a rough wooden stool.
1993 Restaurants & Institutions (Chicago) (Nexis) 1 Apr. 97 Place a pickle tub on every table for snacking and make sure you plop a pickle spear on each sandwich plate.
pickle-yard n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > cooking establishment or kitchen > [noun] > place where food is preserved
powdering house1513
skeo1602
smoke-loft1657
salting-house?c1682
meat house1710
pickle-yard1722
fishing-rooma1728
salting-room1805
frigorifico1917
1722 R. Burridge New Rev. London 26/2 Pickle yard, on little tower hill.
1998 Evening Herald (Plymouth) (Nexis) 27 June 10 We would welcome any items or memories of the railway, the shops, the timber-yard (or pickle-yard, as it was known).
C2.
pickle button n. U.S. Military slang the button or switch which launches a torpedo or bomb; (in later use) any similarly shaped switch in an aircraft.
ΚΠ
1961 L. G. Richards TAC 193 Clamp down on the ‘pickle button’, the bombing trigger.
1979 R. Prest F4 Phantom vi. 63 My right thumb hits the pickle button.
1991 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 16 Feb. 9 ‘Comin' on the pickle button,’ says a pilot... ‘Fire the pickle whenever,’ answers his weapon systems officer.
pickle-cured adj. cured or preserved in pickle.
ΚΠ
1906 N.E.D. at Pickle sb.1 Pickle-cured.
1953 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. A 116 68 The considerable pre-war export trade, which was largely in pickle-cured herrings.
1977 Coshocton Tribune (Ohio) 31 Oct. Pickle cured products and perishable products.
pickle leaf n. now historical a pickle dish in the form of a leaf.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > table-vessels > dish or plate > other types of dish
spice-plate1391
pie plate1573
maple dish1637
cheese platea1665
supper dish1664
copperplate1665
reaming dish1712
paper plate1723
pickle leaf1762
pap-boat1782
supper1787
vegetable dish1799
well-dish1814
ice plate1820
pudding plate1838
tea plate1862
picnic plate1885
strawberry dish1941
1762 T. Roch Catal. Househ. Goods E. Mantell 5 Four stone pans, three tea-pots, a pickle-leaf, two basons, a mug, and a porringer.
1859 S. Smiles Self-help (1860) ii. 41 Melon table-plates, green pickle-leaves, and such like articles.
1972 Times 14 Oct. 16 Rare early pieces..have risen most in price together with small, easily displayable items such as pickle leaf dishes.
pickle man n. a person engaged in the making or selling of pickles.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of provisions > sellers of other provisions
cheesemonger1185
pudding-wife1287
eirmongerc1305
honeyman1510
egg-wife1659
corn-chandler1687
pickle man1714
tea man1736
pickle dealer1791
iceman1807
ice-creamer1851
plum duffer1851
barm-man1913
traiteur1963
1714 W. Bacon & R. Britiff Alphabet. Draught Poll in Norwich 34 Charles Spendlowe, Pickle-Man.
1865 Sci. Amer. 19 Aug. 116/2 A sheet giving a few items in reference to the apparatus [for boiling vinegar]. It may interest our pickle men.
1995 Eightdays a Week 20 May 17/1 One—an author—notices her during a book-signing session, the other—a pickle man—is an arranged match.
pickle pot n. (a) a container for pickles; (b) now historical, a form of condenser used on some early steam engines (see quot. 1994).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > container for food > [noun] > pickle-pot
pickle pot1761
pickle bottle1771
pickle jar1778
pickle barrel1839
pickler1862
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > parts of > condensers
condenser1769
surface condenser1843
tube-condenser1877
pickle pot1903
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. xiv. 67 A three-halfpenny pickle pot.
1824 M. Randolph Virginia House-wife 210 Soak them in plain vinegar for a fortnight, and put them in the yellow pickle-pot.
1903 Nature 19 Nov. 68/2 After Watt's patent, Newcomen engines were made with separate condensers without air-pumps, the air being discharged through a snifting-valve. Such condensers were known as ‘pickle-pots’.
1994 D. Cardwell Fontana Hist. Technol. vii. 165 One way of getting round the patent was the so-called ‘pickle-pot’ condenser. Part of the pipe connecting the cylinder to the boiler was enlarged in the rough shape of a pickle jar. Cold condensing water was injected into the relatively small ‘pickle-pot’ while the working cylinder could be kept relatively hot all the time.
2002 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 8 Dec. 60/1 The growth of the online auction site from fuzzy utopian community to corporate behemoth where one can buy everything from Sevres and Studebakers to pickle pots.
pickle switch n. U.S. Military slang = pickle button n.
ΚΠ
1972 R. Barrett Lovomaniacs i. 34 Smart pilots use trim for continued attitudes; dumb pilots use brawn. Where's that pickle-switch?
1990 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 7 May 77 This update is achieved by having the pilot fly the aircraft over the threshold surveyed position at 50 ft. and activating a pickle switch.
pickle worm n. U.S. the caterpillar of an American pyralid moth, Diaphania nitidalis, which bores into ripening cucumbers, cantaloupes, squashes, etc.
ΚΠ
1870 Amer. Naturalist 4 614 The Pickle worm..is a caterpillar which bores into the cucumbers when large enough to pickle, and it is occasionally found in pickles.
1944 R. Matheson Entomol. for Introd. Courses xiv. 298 The pickle worm (Diaphania nitidalis) and the melon worm (D. hyalinata) are both destructive to cantaloupe, melon, squash, and cucumber plants.
2002 Orlando (Florida) Sentinel (Nexis) 16 June k6 Pickle worms can be chased out of cucumbers by soaking them in cold water.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† picklen.2
Obsolete. rare.
Some kind of pointed weapon.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > [noun] > pointed weapon
ordeOE
point?c1425
pickle1550
stabber1581
prog1615
pigsticker1867
1550 Inventory Henry VIII in Archaeologia (1982) 107 204/2 Thordenaunce and Munycions remaynyng at the said towne [sc. Newcastle-upon-Tyne]..Pickles iiijc, Blacke billes M1M1, [etc.].
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
picklen.3
/ˈpɪk(ə)l/, U.S. /ˈpɪk(ə)l/, Scottish English /ˈpɪk(ə)l/, Irish English /ˈpɪk(ə)l/ Scottish, English regional (northern), and Irish English (northern).
1.
a. A single grain or kernel of wheat, barley, or oats.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > a single grain
cornc1000
grainc1380
pickle1552
rice grain1763
1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. iii. vii. f. 141v As breid is maid of mony pickillis of corne.
1649 J. Lamont Diary (1830) 9 Crieping things..which remained in the head of the stalke of corne att the roote of the pikkell.
1700 R. Wodrow Early Lett. (1937) 88 He most take one pickle of the corn and take away the shortest beard or aun from it.
c1770 Herd's MSS (Hecht 1904) 98 O, if my love was a pickle of wheat..Away with that pickle I wad flie.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 557 The ears are found to have alternately a plump well-filled pickle and an empty husk.
1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. Pickle, a single grain or kernel; of corn, rice, or the like.
1897 66th Rep. Brit. Assoc. 457 Some members of the family took a sheaf of grain and put a ‘pickle’ of it on each bed any time after 12 o'clock on the morning of New Year's Day.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 21 Sept. 4/3 I discovered in the gizzard of one bird 603 pickles of oats and in another 490 of barley.
1956 S. H. Bell Erin's Orange Lily v. 73 We know that their tithe of the harvest was the top pickle of grain.
1962 New Shetlander No. 63. 13 Barrels o corn, cool trickle o puckles trow your fingers.
1989 L. Lochhead Mary Queen of Scots i. i. 11 It's a fistfu' o' fish or a pickle o' oatmeal.
b. A single grain or particle of sand, dust, etc.In quot. 1929: a pellet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a separate part > a piece or bit > a particle
grotc888
crumba1387
motec1390
particlea1398
pointa1400
specka1400
atomy1584
moment1594
dust1597
pickle1604
mite1605
atom1626
iota1636
ramentum1658
bodikin1668
part1669
dustling1674
scintilla1674
minim1686
fleck1753
molecule1799
heartbeat1855
particule1889
1604 in H. Paton Dundonald Parish Rec. (1936) 55 He..brocht to him as it ver pikilis of stiffing [= starch].
1632 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. xxii. 87 Ye shall run out your glass even to the last pickle of sand.
1656 H. Jeanes Mixture Scholasticall Divinity 150 Rotten, and dissolved into innumerable pickles of dust.
1835 J. M. Wilson Hist. Tales Borders X. 252 There's no a pickle meal i' the barrel.
1898 Shetland News 26 Feb. Da first 'at rattled apo' da fluer introw da lum, wis da dry hail pickle.
1929 in Sc. National Dict. (1968) VII. 112/1 [Ulster] Only two or three pickles had hit the second rabbit, that I found just kickin' at the mouth of its hole.
1964 New Shetlander No. 71. 32 I love ta hear da haillie puckles Hammerin at da window peen.
2. A small or indefinite quantity or amount (of something); a little, a bit, a few. Usually in partitive construction, frequently without of.In quot. 1629: a comparatively small quantity (in contrast to gritte).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount
speckc725
littleOE
somethingc1200
lutewihtc1230
little whatc1384
ouncec1387
lap1393
smalla1400
modicumc1400
nekedc1400
spota1413
tinec1420
nieveful?a1425
handfulc1443
mouthful?c1450
smatchc1456
weec1480
quern1503
halfpennyworth1533
groatsworth1562
dram1566
shellful1578
trickle1580
snatch1592
sprinkling1594
fleck1598
snip1598
pittance1600
lick1603
fingerful1604
modicum1606
thimbleful1607
flash1614
dasha1616
pipa1616
pickle1629
drachm1635
cue1654
smack1693
starn1720
bit1753
kenning1787
minikin1787
tate1805
starnie1808
sprat1815
harl1821
skerrick1825
smallums1828
huckleberry1832
scrimp1840
thimble1841
smite1843
nattering1859
sensation1859
spurt1859
pauchlea1870
mention1891
sketch1894
sputterings1894
scrappet1901
titch1937
tad1940
skosh1959
smattering1973
1629 C. Lowther et al. Our Journall into Scotl. (1894) (modernized text) 42 A picle or keoren of wool is 100 stone of, etc.: a gritte is all above a hundred stone.
1638 A. Cant Serm. 13 June (1741) 23 There is not a pickle of hair in thy head.
?a1728 J. Wyllie in Sc. Presbyterian Eloquence (1786) 133 Not satisfied with a simple gold ring, but ye must have a pickle hair.
1754 Scots Mag. Aug. 401 The neighbours interrogating the prisoner, she said she had put nothing in but a pickle sugar.
1761 J. Reed Register-office ii. 35 Gul. For what Station in Life do you think yourself fittest? Scotch. For ony Station, where Learning is necessary—I care na a pickle o' Sneeshing what it be.
1807 R. Tannahill Soldier's Return 20 I've spun a pickle yarn.
1877 G. Stewart Shetland Fireside Tales x. 78 A ‘puckle o' oo’ when da sheep wis rued.
1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona vii. 75 Ye'll have..to think a wee pickle less of your dainty self.
1917 A. S. Neill Dominie Dismissed vi. 86 Aw need hardly say onything aboot the object o' this concert, but it's to get a puckle bawbees to send oot a clean pair o' socks and maybe a clean sark to oor local sojers oot in France.
1935 G. Blake Shipbuilders xi. 323 ‘There's a pickle mair firewood for you, Mrs. Stirling,’ he wheezed. ‘Help yersel'.’
1951 Scots Mag. Jan. 317 A puckle dirty watter.
1968 G. M. Williams From Scenes like These xii. 280 His father had..told him to run and fetch the police. Get the polis for a pickle of crab-apples, even at that age he knew it wasn't right.
2001 Belfast News Let. (Nexis) 28 Apr. 20 Wud tha leids be kempin wi ither fur a pickle siller or be richt twa-fittit pairts o a new fowkgates fur aa?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
picklen.4
/ˈpɪkl/, U.S. /ˈpɪk(ə)l/ English regional. Now rare.
A pitchfork or hay-fork; = pikel n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > fork > pitch-fork
pikeforkc1275
shakefork1338
pickfork1349
pitchfork1364
pikea1398
bicornec1420
hay-fork1552
shed-fork1559
straw-fork1573
pikel1602
sheppeck1602
corn-pike1611
wain-forka1642
pick1777
pickle1847
peak1892
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words Pickle, a hayfork. Somerset.
1878 B. Brierley ‘Jingo’ & Bear 5 The're followed by a lot o' farm lads, carryin a pickel apiece.
1884 Folk-lore Jrnl. 2 43 They had got rakes, and brooms, and pickels reaching into the pond.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
picklev.1
/ˈpɪk(ə)l/, U.S. /ˈpɪk(ə)l/, Scottish English /ˈpɪk(ə)l/ Now rare (Scottish and English regional (northern) in later use).† 2. intransitive. = piddle v. 1a. Obsolete. † 3. transitive. To pick clean, cleanse by minute picking; to pick over. Obsolete.
1. transitive. To pick in a small way, or a little at a time; to peck, nibble; to eat sparingly or delicately. Also intransitive. Also figurative. to pickle in one's own poke-nook (Scottish): to rely on one's own resources.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > processes or manners of eating > eat via specific process [verb (intransitive)] > eat small amounts
picklea1522
pickc1550
pingle1600
piddlea1620
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > processes or manners of eating > eat via specific process [verb (transitive)] > eat small amounts
tastea1400
picklea1522
to taste of1607
pingle1903
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xii. Prol. 158 Phebus red fowle..Pykland his meyt in alleis quhar he went.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Kiii/1 To Pickle, eat nicely, edere minutim.
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie i. 6 Whensoeuer we haue..but pickled vpon the doctrine without suffering it to work any true liuelinesse in vs.
a1628 J. Carmichaell Coll. Prov. in Scots (1957) No. 1242 Pikill in your awin poke nuke.
1706 Short Surv. Married Life 10 If she be a Lusty Vigorous young one, all Cork over, it's a hazard..she'll..set you the high way to the back of November to pickle Bird-Seed.
1761 J. Reed Register-office ii. 34 I ax'd a' my Friends, but they girnit at me like the Vengeance—‘Hald ye there, Lad,’ quo they: ‘Ye maun ee'n pickle i' your ain poke-nuke!—As ye bak'd, ye may brew.’
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian iii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. III. 74 Aweel, lass,..then thou must pickle in thine ain poke-nook, and buckle thy girdle thine ain gate.
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 130 Pickle,..to eat or pick but a small quantity at a time, as sickly cattle are said only to pickle a bit out of the hand at once.
1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 95/1 Pickle, pykle..to take very small quantities of food into the mouth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > cause to be idle or inactive [verb (transitive)] > occupy oneself triflingly with > waste (time) in trifling activity
trifle outa1450
trifle1532
loiter1549
picklea1568
toy1575
trifle1587
rust1604
to idle (time) away1652
fool1657
to dally away1685
dangle1727
to piddle away1743
peddle1866
potter1883
putter1911
gold-brick1918
a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 66v To busie my selfe in pickling about these small pointes of Grammer.
1888 R. L. Stevenson Let. 6 Sept. (1995) VI. 207 When I remember all I hoped and feared, as I pickled about Rutherford's [sc. an Edinburgh public house] in the rain and the east wind.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > other cleaning methods, devices, or substances > clean by other miscellaneous methods [verb (transitive)]
rakec1400
pickle1605
to rub down1682
thumb1768
steam-clean1835
bread1869
French-chalk1870
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > clearing of refuse matter > clear of refuse [verb (transitive)] > clear by picking
picka1393
to pick awayc1400
pickle1605
repick1779
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. vi. 200 The Wren..Into his [sc. the crocodile's] mouth he skips, his teeth hee pickles Clenseth his Palate.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Pickle, v. to glean a field a second time, when, of course, very little can be found.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
picklev.2
/ˈpɪkl/, U.S. /ˈpɪk(ə)l/ 1.
a. transitive. To put into or steep in pickle; to preserve in pickle, brine, alcohol, etc. Also with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > pickle or preserve [verb (transitive)]
souse1387
conditec1420
comfit1484
pickle1526
confect1558
preserve1563
marl1598
murine1656
marble1661
mango1728
caveach1739
to put down1782
process1878
1526 Grete Herball lxxvi. sig. Eiv/1 Wasshe them in water that it is soden in and make an oyntement of the same medled with a lytell saluystre and grese picule with vyneygre and lay therto.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Kiii/1 To Pickle, flesh, condire, salire.
1599 J. Lok in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 110 They vse to pickle them with vineger and salt.
1633 J. Hart Κλινικη i. xiv. 52 They pickle it [sc. cabbage] up..with salt and barberies, and so keepe it all the yeere.
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia 220 Salmon... If pickled it's like Sturgian.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vi. xiv. 54 A Physician, who having pickled half a dozen embryos [etc.].
1768 W. Cowper Let. 3 May (1979) I. 194 Mrs. Rebecca Cowper's Receipt to Pickle Cabbage.
1847 S. Rutledge Carolina Housewife xiii. §5 181 The proportions in this receipt will pickle one hundred mangoes.
1893 K. Sanborn Truthful Woman S. Calif. 28 The processes of pickling olives.
1910 Gazette (Stevens Point, Wisconsin) 27 Apr. How to pickle butter. Cover with strong brine and keep in a cool place.
1969 M. Harris Kind of Magic 199 Our stepfather..pickled them [sc. hams] in a mixture of old beer, brown sugar, juniper berries and salt.
1979 R. Dahl My Uncle Oswald viii. 87 The only way to get the body home in fair condition was to pickle it in a barrel of rum.
1992 Org. Gardening Sept. 45/1 We freeze and pickle a bunch, and some we make into ristras—dried pepper wreaths..—to give as gifts.
b. transitive. figurative and in extended use.
ΚΠ
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 66 She was adiudged..to haue her posterity throughly sawst and sowst and pickled in barrelles of brinish teares.
1647 J. Cleveland Poems in Char. London-diurnall (Wing C4662) 48 Not to repent, but pickle up their sin.
a1653 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 18 For this our eyes are pickled up with teares, That are most brinie.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 18 A theory, pickled in the preserving juices of pulpit eloquence. View more context for this quotation
1858 Atlantic Monthly Feb. To keep the record pickled away in some place where it will be as little likely as possible to be found or read by anybody else.
1904 Daily Chron. 1 Sept. 8/2 I think you are pickling a rod for your own back.
1991 T. Kizzia Wake of Unseen Object iii. 69 I'm pickled in the vinegar of my disillusionment up here.
c. intransitive. To undergo the process of pickling. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > be pickled or preserved [verb (intransitive)]
pickle1904
1904 G. Parker Ladder of Swords ix. 110 You have prepared your own brine, monsieur; in it you shall pickle.
1996 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 3 Nov. (TV Topics section) 2 His own father was hauled up from the bottom of the bay in an oil drum where he was pickling in his own blood.
2. transitive. Originally Nautical. To rub salt, brine, vinegar, or the like into (a person's back) in order to render a whipping or flogging more painful; to punish (a person) in this way. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > administer corporal punishment [verb (transitive)] > rub salt on back
pickle1702
1702 J. Dennis Ess. on Navy 10 The Captain..caused his hands to be seized, or tied, and after having duck'd him three times, then whipt and pickled him to that degree, that none believ'd he could live.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 329 They were taken on Board the Ship..and were some time after soundly whipp'd and pickl'd.
1776 J. Villette Ann. Newgate I. 139 In the few months I was on board, my behaviour was such, that I was fourteen times whipt and pickled, and six times hung up by the heels.
1844 Narr. Life Moses Grandy (ed. 2) 36 For preaching to them [sc. escaped slaves], Isaac was flogged, and his back pickled.
1887 Dict. National Biogr. XII. 205/1 It was acknowledged that [in Corbet's ship, c1808] the number of men flogged was very great;..and that the backs of the sufferers were habitually pickled.
1996 R. Dove Darker Face of Earth (1999) i. viii. 61 First they flogged him. Then they pickled the wounds with salt water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > pickle or preserve [verb (transitive)] > fill vessel with preserving liquid
pickle1757
1757 W. Thompson Royal Navy-men's Advocate 12 The Casks to be always drove and pickled in Time.
4. † b. transitive. Art. colloquial. To treat or alter (a painting) so as to pass it off as an old master. Obsolete. rare.
a. transitive. To steep in or treat with an acid or other chemical solution. Cf. pickle n.1 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > perform general or industrial manufacturing processes [verb (transitive)] > treat with solution
pickle1844
solution1891
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 503 Seed-wheat should be pickled, that is, subjected to a preparation in a certain kind of liquor, before it is sown.
1868 F. H. Joynson Metals in Constr. 103 The sheets to be galvanised are pickled, scoured, and cleaned.
1889 Standard 22 Oct. 2 The ordinary dressings with which seed-corn is ‘pickled’, to prevent bunt or smut.
1936 E. A. Atkins & A. G. Walker Electr. Arc & Oxy-acetylene Welding (ed. 3) xii. 133 One of the simplest ways in which hydrogen passes into steel or iron is when these metals are cleaned or pickled in hydrochloric or sulphuric acid.
1988 D. Rees GCSE CDT—Design & Realisation xvi. 157 Aluminium does not form an oxide and therefore does not need to be ‘pickled’ after annealing.
ΚΠ
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. (citing Art Jour.) Pickle.
5. transitive. Baseball. To hit (the ball) very hard.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > play baseball [verb (transitive)] > actions of batter
pop1867
foul1870
poke1880
pole1882
bunch1883
line1887
to foul off1888
rip1896
sacrifice1905
pickle1906
to wait out1909
pull1912
single1916
pinch-hit1929
nub1948
tag1961
tomahawk1978
1906 Washington Post 7 Jan. (Sporting section) 3/2 Dahlen pickled the ball and it shot on a line straight out over George Van Haltren's head.
1941 Iowa City Press-Citizen 15 Aug. 8/6 He's neither the greatest outfielder in the world nor the best thrower, but he pickles the ball when hits mean runs.
1962 Pittsburgh Courier (Electronic ed.) 11 Aug. 20 With Jiminez pickling the ball at a .335 pace..Pete has adjusted his lifetime pace upwards, by 0.50 points.
1993 People's Weekly World 6 Feb. 21/4 (heading) McDuffie stayed with the ball and then began to pickle a few.
6. Military slang (originally and chiefly U.S.).
a. transitive. To bomb; (more generally) to destroy. Cf. pickle n.1 7a, pickle barrel n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > attack with aircraft [verb (transitive)] > drop (bombs) > bomb
bomb1909
prang1942
pickle1944
1944 R. Olds Helldiver Squadron 118 I sure wish we'd get the hell out of here... We're going to screw around here until we get pickled.
1948 I. Wolfert Act of Love 480 The tanks were crunching up those machine-gun nests..and their only trouble was they had to stand still to aim. That's when they got pickled, when they stood still.
1962 S. Smith Escape from Hell 96 You pickled both of 'em!
b. transitive. To release (a bomb, fuel tank, etc.) from an aircraft.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > attack with aircraft [verb (transitive)] > drop (bombs)
salvo1943
pickle1966
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > attack with aircraft [verb (transitive)] > drop tanks or equipment
pickle1966
1966 Time 20 May 36/3 ‘I broke to the right,’ recalled Dudley after last week's action, ‘and pickled (dropped) my fuel tanks.’
1970 Word Watching Apr. 7/1 Pickle, to drop extra fuel tanks or equipment: to drop bombs.
1989 Airforce July 18/3 Willy powered lower toward a major highway arrowing straight at the hummock with its paddock of camouflaged buildings and he pickled the bombs.
2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon lv. 866 He had six more AMRAAMs [sc. missiles], and he pickled four of them off in the next minute.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1int.adj.1440
n.21550n.31552
n.41847v.1a1522v.21526