pickern.1
/ˈpɪkə/, U.S. /ˈpɪkər/ 1. A person who steals, esp. small things that may be readily picked up; a pilferer, a petty thief (in later use usually one who picks pockets). pickers and stealers (with allusion to quot. 1604 at β. ): †fingers or hands (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > petty thief or pilferer > [noun]
mitcher?c1225
nimmera1325
pilferer1350
truffer1485
lurcher1528
picker1549
filcher1557
purloiner1557
prig1567
prigger1567
prigman1567
fingerer1575
piker1590
prag1592
nibbler1598
lurch-man1603
petty larcener1640
budge1673
catch-cloaka1679
prigster1682
sutler1699
marauder1764
snib1823
chicken thief1840
lurker1841
souvenir hunter1862
robberling1865
jackdaw1887
miker1890
frisker1892
bower-bird1926
jagoff1931
magpie1944
slockster-
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > hand > [noun]
handeOE
cleche?c1225
fista1300
dallea1500
clutcha1529
gripea1555
famble1567
claw1577
golla1586
patte1586
manus1598
pickers and stealers1604
fore-foota1616
pud1654
daddle?1725
fin1785
mauley1789
feeler1825
maniple1829
flipper1832
flapper1834
grappler1852
duke1874
mitt1893
α.
β. 1549 J. Cheke Hurt of Sedicion sig. C2 Shall we call you pyckers, or hid theues?1591 Art. conc. Admiralty 21 July §42 Petite transgressors, or pickers, which haue stollen..Anchors, Cables,..girdles, Shirts, Breeches, or other small things whatsoeuer.1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. ii. 323 So And doe still by these pickers and stealers.1721 T. D'Urfey Two Queens Brentford iii. i. 42 He's mad by these ten Pickers and Stealers, as Hamlet says.1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opinions I. x. 108 Their pickers and stealers were at liberty, to secrete certain portable moveables.1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel I. Introd. Ep. p. xxxi These unhappy pickers and stealers.1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 410/2 A picker of ladies' pockets.1854 Ladies' Repository Oct. 450/1 Digitals [i.e. fingers] of unusual longitude are better fitted for ‘pickers and stealers’ than more dumpy fellows.1929 M. A. Gill Underworld Slang 9/1 Pickers, pick pockets.1966 Times 29 June 13/5 Pickers of pockets, purse stealers, and handbag snatchers had shown an alarming 50 per cent increase.γ. 1672 in J. Cameron Argyll Justiciary Rec. (1949) I. 14 To be brunt in the cheek with the lettir T as the mark of a peaker.1680 in J. Cameron Argyll Justiciary Rec. (1949) I. 119 Repute..as a thief, pecker and idle villan and a sorner.1350 in A. H. Thomas Cal. Plea & Mem. Rolls London Guildhall (1926) I. 237 (MED) [He was maintaining one..who was a] pikere [and a] pulfrour [and not fit to belong to the mistery].
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. vi. 17 (MED) Canstow..be haywarde and liggen oute a nyghtes And kepe my corn in my croft fro pykers and þeeues?
1402 Reply Friar Daw Topias in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 66 But if alwey pikers, Jak, thou wolt us maken, ther we piken but seely pans, thi secte pikith poundis.
1504 Act 19 Hen. VII c. 6 §1 in Statutes Realm (1816) II. 651 Knowyng theves and other pikars.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Philem. Argt. f. xxxiv He reconsileth vnto the Maister [sc. Philemon] his seruaunt that had bene both a runneagate and a piker.
1582 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1882) IV. 566 Anent the beidmen..that thai be not..drinkares cairters dysars theiffis or pykers.
1629 Stewartry Court Bk. Monteith 5 Nov. Convict..as ane commoun pyker.
1660 in W. Macgill Old Ross-shire & Scotl. (1911) II. 47 The severall pykeris & stealeris of honest mens guidis in the barronie.
2.
a. Any of various pointed tools used for picking, as a mattock, pickaxe, picklock, toothpick, etc. N.E.D. (1906) lists many examples of tools which may be so called: see quot. 1906.Recorded earliest in ear-picker n. and tooth-picker n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > digging or lifting tools > [noun] > pick
mattockeOE
pickaxe1256
billc1325
pikec1330
pickc1350
peak1454
picker1481
peck1485
beele1671
pix1708
tramp-pick1813
jackass pick1874
mad mick1919
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning or cleanliness of the person > [noun] > cleaning the teeth > implements for
picker1481
toothpick1488
picktooth1542
tooth-picker1545
tooth-scrape1552
pick1562
tooth-rake1585
tooth-scraper1585
teeth-brush1651
dentiscalp1656
toothbrush1690
quill toothpick1775
quill1785
chew-stick1858
tooth-stick1859
dental silk1907
dental floss1922
floss1936
airbrasive1945
Water Pik1962
water toothpick1965
society > occupation and work > equipment > brick-making equipment > [noun] > for mixing clay
paddle1662
pickerc1785
auger1880
1481 Petty Customs Acct. in H. S. Cobb Overseas Trade of London (1990) 179 Ere pikers.
1545 Rates Custome House sig. bjv Ere pikers or tothe pikers of bone the groce xii.d.
1617 J. Harington tr. H. Ronsovius Preserv. Health xi. 44 in Englishmans Doctor (rev. ed.) After meat taken..clense the teeth either with Iuory..or some picker of pure siluer or gold.
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia in Poems (1878) III. To Rdr. 135 Euery hand Of accident doth with a Picker stand, To scale the wards of Life.
1682 W. M. Remembr. Show & Shooting 1583 in W. Wood Bow-mans Glory 54 Every one had his Page going before him..some bearing Pickers, some Spades, and some Hammers.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) I. 192 Having with an Iron Picker cleared away all the Earth out of the Hills, so as to make the Stock bare to the principal Roots [of the hops].
c1785 in Daily Chron. 9 Dec. (1904) 4/6 Two of us..when alone would with pickers pick the mortar out of the bricks till we had opened a hole big enough to go in.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 837 The rubbish is withdrawn as it accumulates, at the bottom of the hole, by means of a picker.
1874 J. H. Collins Princ. Metal Mining (1875) xi. 62 The pickers used in the Western mines are longer and narrower. They are used..to pick out the small fragments of loose rock which wedge in larger portions in some situations.
1906 N.E.D. at Picker 1 The name of various tools: e.g. A toothpick; a tool for picking stones from a horse's foot; a tool for clearing out small openings, as in a lamp or a powder-flask; a priming-wire for clearing the vent of a gun; a tool for scraping clod-salt from the bottom of a salt-pan; in brick-making, one of two spike-toothed horizontal shafts which revolve in opposite directions, and disintegrate the raw clay; a picklock; a needle for making anglers' flies; a tool, like a graver, used in touching up electrotypes.
1907 Gentleman's Mag. July 105/1 Nothing more joyous can be imagined than a good ‘digging-sing’..with the pickers—so they call their pick-axes—falling in regular beat.
1982 D. Francis Banker 227 ‘Those pickers are strictly for opening doors in emergencies,’ the locksmiths said.
1996 J. Davidson in D. C. Starzecka Maori Art & Culture i. 23 There are also awls and pickers of various kinds.
b. spec. = pricker n. 4b. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > equipment for use with firearms > [noun] > priming-wire
primer1497
priming-iron?1592
priming wire1598
pricker1611
picker1710
1710 T. Nairne Let. from S. Carolina 32 The Arms which every one is obliged to have..are a good Fusee,..a Cartridge-box..with at least 16 cartridges, a Sword, or Cutlass, Worm, Picker, spare Flints, &c.
1775 N.Y. Gaz. & Weekly Mercury 10 July 2/4 (advt.) He likewise draws..brushes and pickers for soldiers firelocks..and several other things in that way.
1828 D. M. Moir Life Mansie Wauch xii. 190 The piker for clearing the motion-hole.
1845 H. W. Herbert Warwick Woodlands 90 Let your hammer down, and give a smart tap to the under side of the breech, holding it uppermost, and you will never need a picker.
1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major II. xxvii. 228 The..householders of the place,..duly equipped with pouches, cross-belts, firelocks, flintboxes, pickers, worms, magazines, priminghorns, heel-ball, and pomatum.
1937 Jrnl. Amer. Mil. Hist. Found. 1 33 The ‘picks’ or ‘pickers’ were often carried in the knapsack or cartridge box rather than on the chest.
3. A person who seeks and finds an opportunity or pretext, as picker of quarrels, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > quarrel or quarrelling > [noun] > picking quarrels > one who
picker of quarrelsc1518
pick-quarrel1530
quarrel-picker1541
c1518 Mary of Nemegen sig. Bii There shall ye see braggers & bosters & pyckers of quarels.
a1529 J. Skelton Agaynste Comely Coystrowne (c1530) i. 35 A bungler, a brawler a pyker of quarellys.
1564 J. Rastell Confut. Serm. M. Iuell f. 107v Peekers of quarells are abrode.
1617 J. Minsheu Ἡγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas A Picker of quarrels, qui omnem captat litigandi ansam, & venatur.
1710 J. Strype Hist. E. Grindal i. 112 The good Bishop had other Work to do, than to comply with such a Picker of Quarrels.
1947 R. Smith in D. Congdon Thirties (1962) 70 The loudmouth, the name-caller, and the picker of fights.
1973 Rev. Eng. Stud. 24 321 Mr. Robinson..is a picker of unconsidered quarrels, and C. S. Lewis..is one of his chief victims.
4. A person who picks apart or cards wool, cotton, etc. In later use also: a machine for doing this.In quot. 1879: an implement for burling cloth.Recorded earliest in wool-picker n. at wool n. Compounds 2a.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > treating or processing wool > [noun] > combing > one who
kember1511
breaker1514
picker1536
wool-picker1536
wool carder1580
comber1658
scribbler1682
wool-comber1702
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > [noun] > separating or cleaning > separating or cleaning with machine > machine
picker1795
wool-mill1819
blowing-machine1835
willow1835
willy1835
twilly1858
blower1867
wilger1871
shake willey1875
wolf1875
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > removing imperfections > implement for
picker1795
1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII c. 4 §1 Weavers, tokers, spynners, diers, and wulpikers haue bene..withoute worke.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Pickers or toosars of wolle, carminarij.
1683 W. Hedges Diary (1887) I. 138 Ye said Naylor..either provides him goods out of the Hon. Comp.'s Warehouse, or connives at the Weavers and Piccars doing of it.
1702 tr. P. de la Court True Interest Republick Holland & W.-Friesland i. 94 Driving out of our Country a very great number of People, as Washers of Wool, Pickers, Scourers, Carders, Spinners, [etc.].
1795 Edinb. Advertiser 6 Jan. 15/3 Five common carding engines, one waste engine, four pickers.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 379 The first machine..for the further clearing of the particles [of cotton] is called a picker.
1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 204 Wool-sorters, pickers, willyers (winnowers).
1879 J. Timbs in Cassell's Techn. Educator viii. 128/2 The separate materials are first passed through a machine called a picker and blower.
1992 Country Woman 49/2 My carder and picker are in the garage—along with the wool that's awaiting customer pickup.
5.
a. A person who picks, plucks, gathers, harvests, or collects fruit, flowers, crops, etc. Frequently with modifying word, as cotton-, fruit-, hop-picker, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > picking or gathering > [noun] > picker or gatherer
gathererc1384
picker1611
puller1653
potato-woman1697
food-gatherer1865
ingatherer1878
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Cueilleur,..a picker, chuser, or culler.
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved 245 You must get as many pickers as may overcome it before it strike in again at the very nick in the morning.
1763 Museum Rusticum 1 lx. 256 Pickers ready to gather up the roots as fast as they are thrown up by the spade.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 630 Such potatoes as may have escaped the pickers.
1887 S. D. Smedes Mem. Southern Planter v. 55 To get five hundred pounds [of cotton] a picker had to use both hands at once.
1920 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 30 377 For example, the cherry pickers of unequal ability should exchange on the basis of quart picked for quart picked.
1937 Amer. Home Apr. 122/2 The well-trained pickers, their big tea baskets hanging from their necks, deftly single out the tender young shoots.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West iii. xiv. 249 Government..provided support for pickers in the off season.
b. A tool or machine for picking or harvesting crops, fruit, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > harvesting equipment > [noun] > tools for lifting root crop
potato digger1795
picker1805
potato graip1844
potato hook1856
potato lifter1858
spinner1923
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 750 A tool which has the title of a picker.
1884 Cassell's Family Mag. Feb. 189/2 The shaker or picker separates the tubers from the soil and delivers them to the rear of the machine.
1886 C. Scott Pract. Sheep-farming 69 A handy turnip hoe or picker, for picking up the shells of the roots.
1939 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 1 Nov. 11/5 The one-row picker results in a saving of at least one-third of the labor involved in the corn harvest.
1949 Time 28 Feb. 91/1 Seated at the controls of the big mechanical picker, he's like a man with a thousand hands, picking fabulous quantities of cotton in a single day.
1999 G. Kissick Winter in Volcano (2000) xiii. 123 [He] poked a long-handled picker into one of the tree's upper branches, positioned the blade around a mango stem, pulled the cord and caught the fruit in a sack.
6. A person who picks out, chooses, or selects.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > selecting from a number or for a purpose > one who selects
culler1483
sorter1554
picker1778
selector1782
1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 234 Women and children sit to pick out the good stones of Ore, and are from thence called Pickers.
1811 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire I. 373 Women, called Pickers,..pick out the clean pieces of Ore, and put them into the Ore-whisket.
1825 Gentleman's Mag. 95 i. 216 It [sc. the coffee-berry] is then winnowed, and goes into the hands of the pickers.
1871 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David II. Ps. l. 17 There are pickers and choosers of God's word.
1926 B. C. Williams in O. Henry Prize Stories of 1925 p. xxiv The Chairman, who read fifteen hundred stories, needs the balsam of pity lightly offered the ‘pickers’ by one of the judges.
1978 I. Murdoch Sea 161 Christ, I'm a rotten picker. First that bitch Rosina, then a friend like Pam.
1991 B. Anderson Girls High (1992) iv. 32 Margot and Sooze can never understand how Carmen, like some other women too beautiful for this world, can be such a bad picker.
7.
a. A person who picks, esp. in technical senses; one who uses a pick to open a lock, remove defects, break up ground, etc.; one who picks (at) something. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > [noun] > action or process of opening > one who or that which opens > one who > one who picks open a lock
picklock1553
lock picker1613
picker1817
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > printmaking > engraving > intaglio printing > [noun] > making of polytypes, etc. > person
electrotyper1841
electrotypist1845
picker1882
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > workers with specific tools or equipment > [noun] > with tools > with pick
pickman1571
beele-man1671
pikeman1744
picker1883
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fisher > [noun] > for eels
eeler1851
sticherer1872
bobber1882
eel-fisher1883
eel-man1883
eel-picker1883
eel-spearer1883
picker1885
sun-spearer1885
1817 Times 19 May 1/1 J. Bramah and Sons..invite the pickers of locks to use their skill.., in order to give the fullest..opportunity of knowing whether the Patent Lock is one of substantial merit and adequate security.
1882 J. Southward Pract. Printing (1884) 600 The pickers are those who have the work of touching up electros.
1883 Stonemason Jan. The face of the rock is first disturbed by a ‘picker’ who, standing on a stage, clears away by blows from a pick delivered horizontally, a space..about 5 feet through.
1885 Sat. Rev. 21 Nov. 673/1 The Norfolk~men mostly use ‘picks’ formed of four broad blades..mounted on long slender poles to enable them to be thrust into the mud. The ‘picker’ notices the..bubbles.
1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge xxi The law..is, moreover, itself a picker of locks.
1949 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 11 Sept. 20/6 (heading) Picker of locks a locksmith's wife.
1982 People (Nexis) 19 July 23 Griffin becomes a smooth picker of locks.
b. Music. colloquial (originally U.S.). A player who plucks the strings of a musical instrument such as the banjo or guitar. Frequently with the name of the instrument prefixed. Cf. pick n.1 4b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > string player > [noun] > plucker
picker1869
plucker1902
1869 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 562/2 'Lias, the fiddler, and the two ‘banjo-pickers’.
1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz vi. 126 The modern method of picking and slapping on the bass was found to be much more rhythmic. So a race of pickers and slappers..sprang into being.
1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris (U.K. ed.) xi. 203 For many years, while the French were learning about jazz, no Frenchman except possibly Django Reinhardt, the guitar picker, could play it.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 23 Oct. 20/3 It's not a novel story. Country music is rife with legend about pickers hitting Lower Broad with a nickel and a song.
1994 Bluegrass Canada Mag. Nov.–Dec. 28/3 The most interesting feature of this year's IBMA was the number of younger pickers performing and jamming.
8. A rag-picker; a person who picks through rubbish in order to salvage scraps.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > clearing of refuse matter > refuse disposal > [noun] > rag-collecting or dust-heap picking > one who
kennel-raker1570
finder1607
rag-raker1631
rag-picker1680
bunter1706
rake-kennel1707
rag collector1820
rag gatherer1851
chiffonier1856
gutter-snipe1869
picker1884
tatter1890
totter1891
dumpster diver1985
1884 Cassell's Family Mag. Feb. 156/2 The pickers, who are mostly Italians, gather £150,000 worth [of rags] yearly in the streets and roads.
1893 Daily News 5 Jan. 5/6 Forty-five thousand men and women..subsisting on pickings from household rubbish... There are pickers and pickers, grades, aristocrats and plebeians in this profession as in every other.
1984 Times 21 Nov. 36/1 The number of pickers [sc. people scavenging poor quality coal from slag heaps] is increasing dramatically.
1991 Garbage Jan. 49 (caption) Pickers pull recyclables, while Ed Martin..and Mike Hall truck the leftovers to Ohio and Virginia.
9. Scottish and Irish English (northern). A young fish, esp. one too small to swallow bait. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > superorder Paracanthopterygii > order Gadiformes (cod) > [noun] > family Gadidae > genus Gadus > gadus morhua (common cod) > small or young
codling1304
morhwell1554
dorse1610
robin1618
skinner1816
sprag1874
tomcod1883
picker1895
1895 F. A. Steel Red Rowans x. 153 I believe..pickers or suckers is really only the local [Scottish] name for young codlings, lythe, or cuddies. In fact for all young fish.
a1908 H. C. Hart MS Coll. Ulster Words in M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal (1953) 211/1 Picker, a young coal-fish or rockfish.
Compounds
C1.
picker-up n. a person who picks something up (in various senses); esp. (a) (chiefly Australian and New Zealand) a person who picks up shorn fleeces; (b) a person who picks up game shot by a shooting party.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > raising > [noun] > taking or lifting up > one who
lifter1535
picker-up1611
upheaver1872
picker-upper1913
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > sheep-shearing > [noun] > sheep-shearer > fleece-picker
picker-up1611
fleece-picker1861
fleece-o1894
piece picker1899
the mind > possession > supply > storage > [noun] > collecting and storing > one who
accumulator1611
amasser1617
picker-up1857
pack rat1912
the world > food and drink > hunting > hunter > [noun] > attendant at hunt > other attendants
marker1486
stopper1848
flapper1856
picker-up1977
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Chaulmeur, a gatherer, or picker vp, of straw.
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. xxxiv. 159 Indissolubly annex'd by the picker up, to the thing pick'd up.
1857 G. Borrow Romany Rye I. x. 140 I dislike a picker-up of old words worse than a picker-up of old rags.
1870 Austral. Town & Country Jrnl. (Sydney) 12 Nov. 13/4 The woolpress-men—the fleece-rollers—the pickers-up—the yarders—the washers' cooks—the hut cooks—the spare shepherds..all..paid off.
1940 Ess. & Stud. 25 111 The picker-up of unconsidered historical trifles.
1977 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 13–19 Jan. 22/1 There are plenty of pickers-up on this shoot, and little is lost.
1993 Common Ground Sept. 5/1 I do all the work. I'm the designated cleaner up, picker up, and cooker up.
1999 Shooting Gaz. Nov. 46/3 You will need to give the picker-up every possible assistance in helping achieve a swift and humane retrieve of all shot game.
C2.
picker bar n. now rare (in a mechanical stoker) a toothed bar for discharging the ashes and cinders from the grate.
ΚΠ
1890 Cent. Dict. 5958/2 Special bars called picker-bars, with teeth working in the air-spaces of the grate, are employed for the discharge of ashes and cinders.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
pickern.2
/ˈpɪkə/, U.S. /ˈpɪkər/ Weaving.
In a loom: a small device which travels backwards and forwards in the shuttle-box and drives the shuttle to and fro through the warp.Recorded earliest in picker maker n. at Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [noun] > weaving > loom > shuttle race > tray or case at end of > part of
picker1794
driver1797
1794 J. Scholes Manch. & Salford Directory 101 Patterson James, picker-maker, 36, Lever-street.
1804 in A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in Eng. (1967) v. 321 My pickers went nicketty-nack all the time I was reiving her loom.
1841 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 824/2 Formerly the shuttle was thrown by the hand, but about one hundred years ago, the picker, or fly-shuttle, was invented by one John Kay of Bury, in Lancashire.
1886 W. A. Harris Techn. Dict. Fire Insurance Pickers, made of buffalo hide, and used for throwing the shuttles backwards and forwards in cotton~weaving.
1972 Materials & Technol. V. xii. 396 Pickers—rolled strips of leather or raw hide used on looms to arrest the travel of the shuttle—are usually made from raw limed buffalo or other hides.
1973 Materials & Technol. VI. vi. 408 The shuttle is projected across the loom by means of a ‘picker’.
Compounds
C1. General attributive and objective.† picker cord n. Obsolete† picker maker n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1878 A. Barlow Hist. & Princ. Weaving v. 81 The two pickers are connected together by a slack cord to the centre of which the ‘picking stick’ is attached. Two short cords are connected to the picker cord to keep it suspended and free to work.
ΚΠ
1794 [see main sense].
1876 Census Massachusetts 1875 (Massachusetts Bureau Statistics Labor) I. 594/1 (table) Occupations... Loom builders, picker makers.
picker manufacturer n.
ΚΠ
1877 A. H. Masten Hist. Cohoes 137 The occupants at this date were: Charles M. Carleton, silk weaver, John Baker, bobbin turner, G. R. Archer, picker manufacturer.
1901 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Dec. 1805 After being dried and having the surplus lime removed they [sc. untanned hides] are delivered to the ‘picker’ manufacturer.
1906 N.E.D. at Picker Picker-manufacturer.
picker strap n.
ΚΠ
1853 Sci. Amer. 10 Dec. 99/2 When a picker strap breaks, the picker staff will relieve the plate.
1878 A. Barlow Hist. & Princ. Weaving xxv. 271 The pickers are fixed upon the ends of the sticks. In this plan the picker straps and spindles are dispensed with.
1948 Berkshire County Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) 4 Dec. 5/5 Savings..include bobbins and bobbin winding, waste elimination and reduction in supplies such as shuttles, picker sticks and picker straps.
C2. † picker staff n. Obsolete the oscillating bar which imparts motion to the shuttle.
picker-band n. (also picker bend) a piece of hide from which a picker can be made.
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1857 E. Eastwood Brit. Patent 1916 (1858) 1 Picker bands having been hitherto made of leather,..I propose to make them of any suitable material, and to arrange and construct certain joints or hinges in them.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Picker-bends, pieces of buffalo hide..imported for the use of power-loom weavers, who attach them to the shuttle.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 641/2 A leather which has been specially prepared for making picker bands.
picker motion n. each of a pair of mechanical devices, one on either side of the loom, which impel the shuttle through the warp.
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1852 Sci. Amer. 24 Apr. 254/2 The momentum of the picker motion, at one side of the loom, is counterbalanced by that of the other picker motion at the opposite side of the loom.
1903 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 18 Apr. 5/4 E. E. Sullivan of Fall River is the inventor of a new picker motion for looms, by which the shuttle is thrown from one side of the loom to the other to lay the weft.
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1847 Sci. Amer. 28 Aug. 388/4 The shuttle is returned, which is done by means of a picker staff or shuttle driver.
1892 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 9 July 2/1 A patent for means for operating the picker staffs of looms.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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