From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpick a quarrel/fight (with somebody)pick a quarrel/fight (with somebody)ARGUEto deliberately start a quarrel or fight with someone I could see he was trying to pick a fight with me. → pick
Examples from the Corpus
pick a quarrel/fight (with somebody)• We adults do the same: we come home from work and start complaining or picking a fight.• Had never picked a fight in his life.• Barton Lynch's manager had once picked a fight with him.• Anthony Ryan was known in his family as able to pick a fight with his own fingernails.• His favorite thing is to pick fights with me and then leave brown lunch bags on our doorstep.• From a lack of communication, parents are more likely to misunderstand, blame, or pick fights with one another.• But it is hard to pick a quarrel with pasta.• The first thing Vicious does is start picking fights with these guys who are supposed to protect him. 