- 1a person or group of people who stand outside the entrance to a building in order to protest about something, especially in order to stop people from entering a factory, etc. during a strike; an occasion at which this happens Five pickets were arrested by police. I was on picket duty at the time. a mass picket of the factory see also flying picket, picketer Wordfinderunionballot, closed shop, collective bargaining, industrial action, labour, picket, protest, representative, strike, union Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivemass, flying verb + picketorganize picket + nounduty, line, sign, … See full entry See related entries: Pay and conditions at work, Protest
- 2a soldier or group of soldiers guarding a military base See related entries: The army
- 3a pointed piece of wood that is fixed in the ground, especially as part of a fence a picket fence See related entries: In the garden Word Originlate 17th cent. (denoting a pointed stake, on which a soldier was required to stand on one foot as a military punishment): from French piquet ‘pointed stake’, from piquer ‘to prick’, from pic ‘pike’.Extra examples Flying pickets arrived from all over the country. They organized a mass picket of the governor’s palace. angry people with picket signs
picket
nounBrE BrE//ˈpɪkɪt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈpɪkɪt//
The army, Pay and conditions at work, Protest, In the gardenCheck pronunciation: picket
