Chapter Phoenix Theatre to Pickwick of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Pick To throw; same as pitch. The instrument that throws the shuttle is called the picker. (Anglo-Saxon, pyc-an, to throw, pull, or pick.)

“I'll pick you o'er the pales.”
>    Shakespeare: Henry VIII., v. 3.

Pick Straws (To). To show fatigue or weariness, as birds pick up straws to make their nests (or bed).

“Their eyelids did not once pick straws,
And wink, and sink away;
No, no; they were as brisk as bees,
And loving things did say.”
Peter Pindar: Orson and Ellen, canto v.

Pick a Hole in his Coat (To). To find fault with one; to fix on some small offence as censurable.

“And shall such mob as thou, not worth a groat,
Dare pick a hole in such a great man's coat?”
   Peter Pindar: Epistle to John Nichols.

Pickaninny A young child. A West Indian negro word. (Spanish, pequeno, little; nino, child.)

Pickelherringe (5 syl.) A buffoon is so called by the Dutch.

Pickers and Stealers The hands. In French argot hands are called harpes, which is a contracted form of harpions; and harpion is the Italian arpione, a hook used by thieves to pick linen, etc., from hedges. A harpe d'un chien means a dog's paw, and “Il mania très bien ses harpes” means he used his fingers very dexterously.

“Rosencrantz. My lord, you once did love me.
Hamlet. And do still, by these pickers and stealers.”-
Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 3.

Pickle A rod in pickle. One ready to chastise with at any moment. Pickled means preserved for use. (Danish, pekel.)
   I'm in a pretty pickle. In a sorry plight, or state of disorder.

“How cam'st thou in this pickle?”
Shakespeare: Tempest, v. 1.

Pickwick (Mr. Samuel). The hero of the Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens. He is a simple-minded, benevolent old gentleman, who wears spectacles, breeches, and short black gaiters, has a bald head, and “good round belly.” He founds a club, and travels with its members over England, each member being under his guardianship.