What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Pick vs Spick - What's the difference?

pick | spick |

In obsolete terms the difference between pick and spick

is that pick is to throw; to pitch while spick is nail, a spike (slender piece of wood or metal, used as a fastener).

As nouns the difference between pick and spick

is that pick is a tool used for digging; a pickaxe while spick is a Latino/Hispanic person.

As a verb pick

is to grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.

pick

English

(wikipedia pick)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
  • A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
  • A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
  • A choice; ability to choose.
  • * Lord Lytton
  • France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
  • That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
  • (basketball) A screen.
  • (lacrosse) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
  • (American football) An interception.
  • (baseball) A good defensive play by an infielder.
  • (baseball) A pickoff.
  • (music) A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
  • A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
  • (obsolete) A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Take down my buckler and grind the pick on 't.
  • (printing, dated) A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.
  • (MacKellar)
  • (art, painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
  • (weaving) The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.
  • so many picks to an inch

    Derived terms

    * pickaxe * take one's pick * toothpick

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
  • Don't pick at that scab.
    He picked his nose.
  • To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.
  • It's time to pick the tomatoes.
  • To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
  • She picked flowers in the meadow.
    to pick feathers from a fowl
  • To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
  • to pick rags
  • To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
  • to pick''' the teeth; to '''pick''' a bone; to '''pick''' a goose; to '''pick a pocket
  • * Shakespeare
  • Did you pick Master Slender's purse?
  • * Cowper
  • He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems / With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
  • To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
  • I'll pick the one with the nicest name.
  • (cricket) To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released.
  • He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.
  • (music) To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
  • He picked a tune on his banjo.
  • To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
  • To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
  • * Dryden
  • Why stand'st thou picking ? Is thy palate sore?
  • To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
  • To steal; to pilfer.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
  • to keep my hands from picking and stealing
  • (obsolete) To throw; to pitch.
  • * Shakespeare
  • as high as I could pick my lance
  • (dated) To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.
  • To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
  • to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.

    Derived terms

    * a bone to pick * picky * pickpocket * nitpick * pick and choose * pick 'em * nose-picking * pick somebody's brain * pick up * pick up on * pick up where one left * pickin' and grinnin' * ripe for the picking

    See also

    * mattock 1000 English basic words ----

    spick

    English

    Etymology 1

    From a stereotypical Latino/Hispanic pronunciation of speak.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US, derogatory, racial slur) A Latino/Hispanic person.
  • Synonyms
    * spic

    Etymology 2

    Variant of spike.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) nail, a spike (slender piece of wood or metal, used as a fastener).
  • Derived terms

    * spick-and-span

    Anagrams

    * ----