picket

picket is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 10 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.A pointed pale, used in marking fences.
  2. 2.Etym: [Probably so called from the picketing of the horses.] (Mil.) A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket.
  3. 3.By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept outsiders, and prevent them from working for employers with whom the organization is at variance. [Cant]
  4. 4.A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
  5. 5.A game at cards. See Piquet. Inlying picket (Mil.), a detachment of troops held in camp or quarters, detailed to march if called upon. -- Picket fence, a fence made of pickets. See def. 2, above. -- Picket guard (Mil.), a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm. -- Picket line. (Mil.) (a) A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed at intervals. (b) A rope to which horses are secured when groomed. -- Picketpin, an iron pin for picketing horses.
  6. 6.To fortify with pointed stakes.
  7. 7.To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.
  8. 8.To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse.
  9. 9.To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.
  10. 10.To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. [Obs.]

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is picket.

Sources

  • Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
  • Synonyms & antonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
  • Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/picket
  • Steward: Jason Burns