PICKET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does picket mean? 

• PICKET (noun)
  The noun PICKET has 6 senses:

1. a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event

2. a detachment of troops guarding an army from surprise attack

3. a protester posted by a labor organization outside a place of work

4. a vehicle performing sentinel duty

5. a wooden strip forming part of a fence

6. a form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake

  Familiarity information: PICKET used as a noun is common.

• PICKET (verb)
  The verb PICKET has 2 senses:

1. serve as pickets or post pickets

2. fasten with a picket

  Familiarity information: PICKET used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PICKET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

lookout; lookout man; picket; scout; sentinel; sentry; spotter; watch

Hypernyms ("picket" is a kind of...):

security guard; watcher; watchman (a guard who keeps watch)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A detachment of troops guarding an army from surprise attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("picket" is a kind of...):

detachment (a small unit of troops of special composition)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A protester posted by a labor organization outside a place of work

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("picket" is a kind of...):

demonstrator; protester (someone who participates in a public display of group feeling)

Derivation:

picket (serve as pickets or post pickets)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A vehicle performing sentinel duty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("picket" is a kind of...):

military vehicle (vehicle used by the armed forces)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "picket"):

picket boat (a boat serving as a picket)

picket ship (a ship serving as a picket)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A wooden strip forming part of a fence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

pale; picket

Hypernyms ("picket" is a kind of...):

strip (thin piece of wood or metal)

Holonyms ("picket" is a part of...):

paling; picket fence (a fence made of upright pickets)

Derivation:

picket (fasten with a picket)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

picket; piquet

Hypernyms ("picket" is a kind of...):

torture; torturing (the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason)

• PICKET (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they picket    ... he / she / it pickets   
Past simple: picketed   
Past participle: picketed   
-ing form: picketing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Serve as pickets or post pickets

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

picket a business to protest the layoffs

Hypernyms (to "picket" is one way to...):

demonstrate; march (march in protest; take part in a demonstration)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

picket (a protester posted by a labor organization outside a place of work)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fasten with a picket

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

picket the goat

Hypernyms (to "picket" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

picket (a wooden strip forming part of a fence)

 Context examples 

In the meantime the last of the carriages had come up, and the horses had all been picketed upon the moor.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Are we really just at the edge of the unknown, encountering the outlying pickets of this lost world of which our leader speaks?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)