pickup
pickup — verb
1. to raise something by taking it in your hand from a surface or low place
to raise something by taking it in your hand from a surface or low place
Nina bent down to pick up the wet towel.
pick up + object from surface
Please pick up your cup before the cat knocks it over.
At the beach, Leo picked up a smooth white stone.
The nurse picked up the baby from the cold floor.
pick up + person from place
- pick up a coin
- pick up a child
- pick up from the floor
- put down
means place something onto a surface
Grammar Patterns
pick up + object
pick up + object + from the floor
pick up + object + off the table
Usage Note
Usually takes one object that is on the floor, a table, or another surface. Distinguish from sense 2 GATHER TOGETHER, which is about several loose things.
Common Mistakes
2. to collect loose things from different places and bring them together
to collect loose things from different places and bring them together
After class, Maya picked up the papers under every desk.
pick up scattered items
The street sweeper picked up wet leaves after the storm.
Before the guests arrived, Omar picked up the toys.
We picked up broken shells from the sand after lunch.
pick up + plural object
- pick up leaves
- pick up papers
- pick up rubbish
- collect
a broad everyday word for bringing things together
- gather
often suggests taking things from several places
- clear away
stresses removing the items from an area
Grammar Patterns
pick up + papers
pick up + leaves
pick up + rubbish
Usage Note
Object is usually plural or a mass noun such as leaves, papers, rubbish, or toys. Distinguish from sense 3 MAKE TIDY, which focuses on making a place neat again.
3. to make a place look neat again by putting things back where they belong
to make a place look neat again by putting things back where they belong
Carla picked up the living room before her parents came home.
pick up + room for tidying
Tom picked up his apartment on Saturday before the move.
Ben picked up the guest room before Aunt May arrived.
Lina picked up her desk before searching for her passport.
pick up + personal space
- pick up the room
- pick up the apartment
- pick up a desk
- tidy
the closest everyday verb
- straighten up
informal and common for rooms or desks
- clean up
can include more washing or removing dirt
- mess up
means make a place untidy
Grammar Patterns
pick up + the room
pick up + the apartment
pick up + desk
Usage Note
Common with room words and personal spaces such as room, apartment, desk, or kitchen. Unlike sense 2 GATHER TOGETHER, the aim is a neat place, not just collected items.
Common Mistakes
4. to bring people or goods onto a vehicle so they can be carried somewhere
to bring people or goods onto a vehicle so they can be carried somewhere
The shuttle picked up tired hikers at the park gate.
pick up + passengers
A small boat picked up the boxes from the island.
pick up + goods
The truck picked up fresh milk from local farms.
Please pick up Grandma outside the clinic at noon.
pick up + person + outside place
- pick up passengers
- pick up freight
- pick up at the station
- drop off
means take someone or something to the destination and leave them there
Grammar Patterns
pick up + passenger
pick up + goods
pick up + someone + at the station
Usage Note
Object is usually passengers, a named person, luggage, or goods. The collection point often comes after at, outside, or from.
Common Mistakes
5. to come into possession of something by finding it, buying it, or making money f
to come into possession of something by finding it, buying it, or making money from it
Jules picked up a cheap lamp at the night market.
pick up + item by buying
Mina picked up a bargain at the school book sale.
pick up a bargain
Lena picked up extra cash by selling cakes after school.
Ravi picked up a summer job at his uncle's shop.
pick up + chance or work
- pick up a bargain
- pick up extra cash
- pick up a job
- lose
means stop having something you had
Grammar Patterns
pick up + a bargain
pick up + extra cash
pick up + a job
Usage Note
Common with bargains, jobs, extra cash, tips, and chances. Distinguish from sense 6 LEARN INFORMALLY, which takes skills or language as the object.
6. to learn a language, skill, or habit gradually by hearing, seeing, or doing it a
to learn a language, skill, or habit gradually by hearing, seeing, or doing it around you, not through formal lessons
After one summer in Seoul, Mia picked up basic Korean.
pick up a language
New cooks pick up kitchen habits by watching the chef.
pick up + habit by watching
Sam picked up a few dance steps from his older sister.
Children often pick up new words from online games.
- pick up a language
- pick up a habit
- pick up new words
- learn
the general everyday verb
- absorb
suggests learning gradually without formal study
- pick up on
different phrase that means notice or understand a hint
- forget
means stop remembering what you learned
Grammar Patterns
pick up + a language
pick up + a skill + from someone
pick up + a habit + by watching
Usage Note
Object is usually a language, skill, habit, or useful expression. It suggests learning naturally through exposure, not classroom study.
Common Mistakes
7. If a shop, hotel, or similar business picks up a card, check, or other payment,
If a shop, hotel, or similar business picks up a card, check, or other payment, it agrees to accept it from customers.
The clinic picks up major credit cards, but not personal checks.
pick up credit cards = accept them
This parking garage does not pick up debit cards after midnight.
The farm stand now picks up mobile payments on busy weekends.
pick up mobile payments
This corner store will not pick up fifty-dollar bills after dark.
pick up + bills = accept them
- pick up credit cards
- pick up debit cards
- pick up checks
- pick up mobile payments
- pick up traveler's checks
- refuse
used when a business will not accept a payment method
Grammar Patterns
pick up credit cards
pick up debit cards
pick up checks
pick up mobile payments
Usage Note
Subject is usually a business, and the object is a payment method or payment document. Distinguish from pay or cover, which describe spending money for someone else and are not included in this sense.
Common Mistakes
8. to become ill with a disease, especially a common one such as a cold or flu
to become ill with a disease, especially a common one such as a cold or flu
After the school trip, Noah picked up a bad cold.
pick up + illness
Several nurses picked up the flu during the winter rush.
On holiday, Emma picked up a stomach bug from street food.
pick up a bug
If you share towels, you can pick up skin infections.
- pick up a cold
- pick up the flu
- pick up a bug
- pick up an infection
- catch
the most common everyday verb for getting an illness
- contract
more formal and common in medical or news writing
- come down with
focuses on starting to feel the illness
- recover from
used when the illness goes away
Grammar Patterns
pick up a cold
pick up the flu
pick up a bug
pick up an infection
Usage Note
Usually takes the name of an illness as its object, especially everyday illnesses such as a cold, flu, or bug. Distinguish from verb sense 5, where you get an object, chance, or benefit rather than a disease.
Common Mistakes
9. to go up to someone you do not know and start a flirty conversation, hoping for
to go up to someone you do not know and start a flirty conversation, hoping for a date or sex
At the bar, Leo tried to pick up two tourists.
try to pick up + stranger
Nina hates it when older men pick her up on trains.
pick someone up in a public place
The film shows college boys picking up strangers outside clubs.
Rosa went to dance, not to pick up anyone.
- pick up a stranger
- pick up someone at a bar
- pick up tourists
- pick up girls / guys
- ignore
used when you make no move to start contact
Grammar Patterns
pick up someone at a bar
try to pick up a stranger
pick up girls / guys
Usage Note
Informal and often slightly disapproving. The object is the person being approached, usually a stranger in a social place such as a bar, club, or train.
Common Mistakes
10. to stop someone and take them away under police control
to stop someone and take them away under police control
Police picked up the suspect outside a bank in Queens.
pick up a suspect
Officers picked Maya up after the judge signed the warrant.
pick someone up on a warrant
By dawn, two gang leaders had been picked up in raids.
passive: be picked up
Border police picked up three smugglers near the river road.
- pick up a suspect
- pick up a fugitive
- pick someone up on a warrant
- be picked up in a raid
- release
used when police let someone go
Grammar Patterns
pick up a suspect
pick someone up on a warrant
be picked up in a raid
Usage Note
Common in police or news language. It often appears in the passive when the speaker wants to focus on the person arrested rather than on the officers.
Common Mistakes
11. to notice or receive a sound, sign, or signal with your ears, eyes, or a device
to notice or receive a sound, sign, or signal with your ears, eyes, or a device
The microphone picked up every cough from the front row.
device + pick up + sound
From the hill, we picked up smoke above the pine trees.
person + pick up + visual sign
Her old radio still picks up stations from across the lake.
pick up stations / signals
The camera picked up a shadow moving near the garden gate.
- pick up a sound
- pick up movement
- pick up stations
- pick up a signal
- miss
used when you fail to see or hear something
Grammar Patterns
pick up a sound
pick up movement
pick up stations
pick up a signal
Usage Note
Often used with devices such as radios, cameras, and microphones, but people can also use it for seeing or hearing something faint. Distinguish from verb sense 12, which is about understanding words, not merely noticing a sight or sound.
Common Mistakes
12. to hear spoken words clearly enough to know what they mean
to hear spoken words clearly enough to know what they mean
I didn't pick up the address because the bus was loud.
pick up the address = understand spoken detail
During the call, Sam picked up only half the doctor's advice.
From the back seat, the twins could not pick up every word.
pick up every word
Lena picked up your joke at once and laughed first.
pick up the joke = understand it
- pick up a word
- pick up a name
- pick up the address
- pick up the joke
- understand
the most direct general verb for knowing the meaning
- catch
informal and very common for hearing words clearly
- follow
often used for longer explanations, talks, or arguments
- misunderstand
used when you get the meaning wrong
Grammar Patterns
pick up a word
pick up a name
pick up the address
pick up the joke
Usage Note
Object is usually words, names, instructions, or meaning from speech. Distinguish from verb sense 11, where you simply hear or see something without necessarily understanding it.
Common Mistakes
13. to become faster, stronger, or busier again, or to make speed increase
to become faster, stronger, or busier again, or to make speed increase
After lunch, sales picked up at the flower market.
business/activity picks up
By spring, Nora's energy picked up after months in bed.
The wind picked up as the fishing boats neared shore.
weather picks up
Once the drums began, the parade quickly picked up speed.
pick up speed
Business usually picks up when tourists arrive in July.
- pick up speed
- business picks up
- trade picks up
- the wind picks up
- the pace picks up
Grammar Patterns
business/weather/activity picks up
pick up speed
pace picks up
Usage Note
Often intransitive with subjects such as business, trade, wind, or pace. With 'speed', it commonly appears in the pattern 'pick up speed'. Distinguish from sense 14: this sense is about becoming stronger or faster, not simply starting again after a stop.
Common Mistakes
14. to begin doing something again after stopping for a time, or to continue from th
to begin doing something again after stopping for a time, or to continue from the point where it stopped.
After the fire drill, Ms Chen picked up the lesson.
pick up + lesson/work/story
Let's pick up this story after the children fall asleep.
The phone interview picked up again after the bad connection.
pick up again after interruption
The band picked up where the singer had stopped.
pick up where ... left off/stopped
After winter break, classes picked up on Tuesday morning.
- pick up the lesson
- pick up the story
- pick up the conversation
- pick up again
- pick up where we left off
Grammar Patterns
pick up + work/lesson/story
pick up again
pick up where + clause + left off
Usage Note
Often followed by a noun such as work, a lesson, a story, or talks, or by the pattern 'pick up where ... left off'. Distinguish from sense 13: here the main idea is resuming after a pause, even if the speed or energy does not increase.
Common Mistakes
pickup — noun
1. the act of going to collect a person or thing, or the spot where this happens.
the act of going to collect a person or thing, or the spot where this happens.
The airport pickup took longer because two flights landed together.
airport pickup = collecting a passenger
Parents lined up outside the gate for school pickup at three.
Please wait at the pickup near the west entrance.
pickup = collection place
The store moved furniture pickup to the back of the building.
Rain delayed trash pickup across the town on Monday morning.
- airport pickup
- school pickup
- trash pickup
- pickup point
- pickup area
- collection
a neutral word for gathering or taking something away
- retrieval
more formal and often used for getting something back
- collection point
used when the place, not the action, is the focus
Grammar Patterns
airport pickup
school pickup
trash pickup
pickup point
Usage Note
Often appears in compounds that show what or whom you collect, such as 'airport pickup', 'school pickup', and 'trash pickup'. The place meaning is especially common in labels like 'pickup point' or 'pickup area'.
Common Mistakes
2. a light truck where the driver sits in front and the back section stays open for
a light truck where the driver sits in front and the back section stays open for carrying things
Maria borrowed her uncle's pickup to move three desks.
collocation: borrow a pickup
Fresh oranges filled the pickup behind the farm shop.
typical use: carrying farm goods
The builder parked a dusty pickup outside our apartment building.
After the storm, neighbors loaded branches into Sam's pickup.
collocation: load branches into a pickup
A red pickup waited by the gate with bags of feed.
- drive a pickup
- borrow a pickup
- park a pickup
- load boxes into a pickup
- pickup truck
the full form; clearer when listeners may not know the shortened noun
- truck
a broader word that can refer to many larger road vehicles, not only this type
Usage Note
Distinguish from noun/1 COLLECTION: this sense names the vehicle itself, not the act or place of collecting something. Often used alone in American English after verbs like `drive`, `park`, `borrow`, and `load`.
3. someone who is being collected or given a ride by another person.
someone who is being collected or given a ride by another person.
The van's first pickup was a nurse from Pine Street.
pickup = person being collected
Our last pickup missed the bus and called again.
At midnight, the driver's pickup was a wet hitchhiker near Exit 12.
pickup = hitchhiker receiving a ride
Judy texted her pickup before leaving the train station.
The hotel shuttle waited because one pickup was still inside.
- first pickup
- last pickup
- hotel pickup
- shuttle pickup
- passenger
broader and does not itself imply being collected
- fare
mainly used for a taxi or ride-service customer
- hitchhiker
only fits when the person is asking strangers for a ride
Grammar Patterns
first pickup
last pickup
text your pickup
Usage Note
Usually understood from a transport situation and not used as a general word for any passenger. In everyday conversation, speakers often choose a fuller phrase such as 'the person I'm picking up' instead.
Common Mistakes
4. a small unit in a guitar or record player that changes vibration or sound into a
a small unit in a guitar or record player that changes vibration or sound into an electrical signal.
The guitar's neck pickup gave the song a warm sound.
neck pickup on a guitar
Dust on the record player's pickup made the music sound rough.
record player pickup
Ben replaced the broken pickup before the school concert.
A weak pickup can make quiet notes hard to hear.
The shop tested each pickup with the same blue guitar.
- guitar pickup
- neck pickup
- weak pickup
- replace a pickup
- transducer
a technical term for a device that changes one kind of energy into another
- cartridge
on a record player, this often names the unit that contains the pickup
Grammar Patterns
guitar pickup
neck pickup
replace a pickup
Usage Note
Most common with guitars and record players. Distinguish from a speaker: the pickup receives vibration or sound and sends a signal onward.
Common Mistakes
5. a period when business, sales, or another activity starts to rise again.
a period when business, sales, or another activity starts to rise again.
After lunch, there was a pickup in online orders.
pickup in + activity noun
The town saw a pickup in trade after the bridge reopened.
Warm weather brought a pickup in bike sales last week.
By spring, the cafe noticed a pickup in evening business.
Mina's mood showed a pickup once the pain began to ease.
- pickup in sales
- pickup in trade
- pickup in business
- show a pickup
Grammar Patterns
a pickup in sales
a pickup in trade
see a pickup
Usage Note
Most often followed by 'in' plus the thing that is improving: a pickup in sales, business, trade, or demand. Distinguish from sense 5 and sense 6, which are both about speed.
Common Mistakes
6. a vehicle's ability to speed up quickly when the driver presses the gas pedal
a vehicle's ability to speed up quickly when the driver presses the gas pedal
This small car has good pickup on steep mountain roads.
have good pickup = accelerate quickly
The old van lacks pickup when all seven seats are full.
Drivers liked the new engine because its pickup felt smoother.
With the trailer attached, the truck lost pickup at traffic lights.
lose pickup
Even on hills, the scooter's pickup surprised Daniel.
- good pickup
- lack pickup
- lose pickup
- smooth pickup
- acceleration
the general technical word for gaining speed
- responsiveness
focuses on how quickly the vehicle reacts
- sluggishness
a lack of quick response or speed
Grammar Patterns
have good pickup
lack pickup
lose pickup
Usage Note
Usually appears after verbs such as 'have', 'lack', 'lose', or 'need'. Distinguish from sense 5 (RUNNING BURST), which is a short action during one race.
Common Mistakes
7. a short burst of extra speed made by a runner during a race.
a short burst of extra speed made by a runner during a race.
On the final bend, Ken made a pickup and passed two runners.
make a pickup in a race
Lena's pickup in the last hundred meters won the race.
pickup in the last hundred meters
The coach praised Marco's pickup after the second lap.
A sudden pickup carried Eva past the tired leader.
During the home stretch, Sora found another pickup and pulled ahead.
- make a pickup
- sudden pickup
- pickup in the final lap
- strong pickup
Grammar Patterns
make a pickup
pickup in the final lap
a sudden pickup
Usage Note
Mainly used in race reports or coaching talk. Distinguish from sense 6 (CAR ACCELERATION), which describes a vehicle's built-in performance rather than a runner's action.
Common Mistakes
pickup — adjective
1. arranged quickly by whoever is available, rather than by an official team or org
arranged quickly by whoever is available, rather than by an official team or organization.
Mina and Jay played a pickup game behind the school after dinner.
pickup game
Only local players joined the pickup team for Saturday's match.
pickup team
After practice ended, a pickup basketball game started on Court B.
pickup basketball
The camp kitchen put together a pickup crew after two cooks went home sick.
pickup crew from available workers
By sunset, the park was full of kids in pickup soccer games.
- pickup game
- pickup basketball
- pickup team
- pickup crew
- pickup soccer
Grammar Patterns
pickup game
pickup team
pickup basketball
pickup crew
Usage Note
Usually placed before nouns such as game, basketball, team, or crew. It suggests that the people involved joined because they were there and ready, not because a school, club, or league planned the event.
Common Mistakes
Word family
- pick upphrasal verbA2
Synonym discussion
Sense: verb/1
For verb/1, 'pick up' is the everyday choice when you take something from a floor, table, or other surface into your hand. 'Lift' focuses more on moving something upward and can be used even when the thing was already in your hands. 'Raise' is broader and often a little more formal; it does not always suggest direct hand contact. 'Grab' adds speed or roughness, as if the action is sudden. 'Collect' is different again because it often means bringing several things together, so it fits verb/2 better than verb/1. Compare: 'Nina picked up the towel from the floor,' but 'The worker lifted the box onto the shelf' and 'Leo grabbed his bag and ran.'
Etymology
'Pickup' developed in English from the phrasal verb 'pick up'. The verb joins 'pick' with 'up' to give the idea of taking something from below, collecting it, or making it rise. From that verb phrase, English later formed the solid noun and adjective. That is why modern English still often writes the verb as two words, 'pick up', while the noun and adjective are commonly written as the single word 'pickup'.