pickup

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See also: Pickup, pick-up, and pick up

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From pick +‎ up.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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pickup (countable and uncountable, plural pickups)

  1. An electronic device for detecting sound, vibration, etc., such as one fitted to an electric guitar or record player.
    1. In a record player, an electromagnetic component that converts the needle vibrations into an electrical signal.
      Synonym: phono cartridge
    2. Electromagnetic coil receiver of metal string oscillations.
  2. (US, Canada) Ellipsis of pickup truck.
    • 2009, Chinle Miller, Desert Rats: Adventures in the American Outback, page 35:
      Franklin is beside himself, revving up the engine in the pickup.
  3. (usually attributive) Impromptu or ad hoc, especially of sports games and teams made up of randomly selected players.
    Rather than join a basketball league, James decided to play pickup.
    At lunch we had a game of pickup hockey.
    • 2010, Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Peter Carey: A Literary Companion, page 100:
      Trevor, like an Aussie outbacker, eats snacks and a pickup meal of bread, cantaloupe, olives, mangoes, and melon.
  4. An instance of approaching someone and engaging in romantic flirtation and courting with the intent to pursue romance, a date, or a sexual encounter.
    Hey, thanks for the drink, but if this is a pickup, I'm not interested.
    Coordinate terms: pick-up line, pick-up joint, pickup artist
  5. A person successfully approached in this manner for romance or sex.
    • 1984, Steven Carter, What every man should know about the "new woman": a survival guide:
      But what about the women who still go to bars — are they completely unaffected by these negative connotations? Hardly. No woman wants to think of herself as being an easy pick-up […]
    • 2002, James A. Abrahamson, Confessions of a Diplomatic Pouch Clerk, page 192:
      Audball's latest pickup didn't seem to care where they were, or anything at all about alimony, palimony, or child support […]
  6. (sports) In various games, the fielding or hitting of a ball just after it strikes the ground.
    • 2011 June 28, David Ornstein, “Wimbledon 2011: Victoria Azarenka beats Tamira Paszek in quarters”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      The fourth seed was dominating her 20-year-old opponent with a series of stinging groundstrokes and athletic drive-volleys, striking again in game five when Paszek flicked a forehand pick-up into the tramlines.
  7. (video games) An item that can be picked up by the player, conferring some benefit or effect; a power-up.
    • 1991, James Leach, Turrican II (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 69
      Every step of the way you come across absolutely loads of aliens, pick-ups and new and weird obstacles to overcome.
    • 2002, Acclaim Entertainment, Turok Evolution: The official strategy guide, page 73:
      Enter the graveyard if you want pick-ups, otherwise make a left under the archways to progress. When the pathway ends, you'll see two blocked-off tunnels and a switch between them.
  8. (US, Canada, politics) The act of a challenging party or candidate winning an electoral district held by an incumbent party or candidate.
    Coordinate term: gain
    The returns from the election show Apple Party candidate Jane Doe has made a pickup in the district of City West defeating Orange Party Incumbent Joe Smith
  9. The act of answering a telephone.
    • 2006, Georgina Spelvin, The Devil Made Me Do It, Little Red Hen Books, published 2008, →ISBN, page 224:
      That's why the phone at the theater's on automatic pickup.
  10. (film) A relatively minor shot filmed or recorded after the fact to augment previous footage.
  11. The act of collecting and taking away something or someone, usually in a vehicle.
    • 2020 March 18, Cindy Gonzalez, “Blackstone District starts emergency fund to aid the neighborhood's bar, restaurant servers”, in Omaha World-Herald‎[2]:
      Owner Philip Schaffart said a precoronavirus Tuesday typically brought in $2,500 in revenue. This past Tuesday, he said, that amount dwindled to $300 as his place was open only for pickup and delivery.
  12. (uncountable) A time during which passengers, such as school children, are picked up.
    • 2021 February 1, Living in Brisbane, Brisbane, page 1:
      These signs are friendly reminders for road users to slow down during drop-off and pick-up.
  13. (uncountable) The rate at which a motor vehicle picks up speed.
    • 1946, Henry Robinson Luce, Fortune, volume 34, page 186:
      The Willys-Overland won't be the fastest car on the road or have the best pickup, but it will have a top speed of eighty miles per hour, and its makers are confident that no car in its class will excel it in economy of fuel and upkeep.
    • 1955, Popular Mechanics, volume 104, number 3, page 70:
      The more highly vaporized the mixture your carburetor delivers, the more power you get, which means higher speed, better pickup, smoother idling, more miles per gallon.
  14. (uncountable) The condition of being picked up, or taken up; adoption by some entity.
    • 1987, Chuck Jordan, Jordan Family Descendents[sic], page 302:
      Newsweek gave it a big write-up, as did many trade journals, including, [sic] Editor and Publisher. And our articles get pickup as far west as the Tombstone Epitaph in Arizona.
    • 2018, Magda Konieczna, Journalism Without Profit: Making News when the Market Fails, page 189:
      Back then CPI staff demonstrated a reflexivity common to public relations, reflected for instance in Lewis's acknowledgment of the fact that the novelty factor might lead to more pickup.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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Verb

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pickup

  1. Misspelling of pick up.

Danish

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Noun

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pickup c (singular definite pickuppen, plural indefinite pickupper)

  1. pickup truck

Declension

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Declension of pickup

gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative pickup pickuppen pickupper pickupene
genitive pickups pickuppens pickuppers pickupenes

Further reading

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Portuguese

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English pickup.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pickup f (plural pickups)

  1. pickup truck (truck with an open cargo bed)

Spanish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English pickup.

Noun

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pickup m or f same meaning (plural pickups)

  1. pickup (vehicle)

Usage notes

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According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv
en pickup (sense 1)

Etymology

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Borrowed from English pickup.

Noun

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pickup c

  2. a pickup truck
  3. a pickup (on an electric guitar)
  4. a pickup (on an (older) record player (phonograph))
    Synonym: nålmikrofon
  5. a pickup baler (piece of farming machinery)

Usage notes

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See the usage notes for bil.

Declension

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Declension of pickup
nominative genitive
singular indefinite pickup pickups
definite pickupen pickupens
plural indefinite pickuper pickupers
definite pickuperna pickupernas

See also

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  • flak (“cargo bed”)

Further reading

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