Definition of Pickup

Noun: pickup 'pik,Ãºp

A light truck with an open body and low sides and a tailboard
- pickup truck, ute [Austral, NZ]
A warrant to take someone into custody
"put out a pickup on that man"
Anything with restorative powers
"she needed the pickup that coffee always gave her";
- pick-me-up
A casual acquaintance; often made in hope of sexual relationships
The attribute of being capable of rapid acceleration
"his car has a lot of pickup";
- getaway
Mechanical device consisting of a light balanced arm that carries the cartridge
- tone arm, pickup arm
An electro-acoustic transducer that is the part of the arm of a record player that holds the needle and that is removable
- cartridge
The act or process of picking up or collecting from various places
"garbage pickup is on Mondays and Thursdays"
The act of taking aboard passengers or freight

Verb: pick up

Take and lift upward
- lift up, gather up
Take up by hand
"He picked up the book and started to read"
Give a passenger or a hitchhiker a lift
"We picked up a hitchhiker on the highway"
Go to meet, esp. to then take somewhere in a vehicle
"She picked up the children at the day care centre"; "They pick up our trash twice a week";
- collect, gather up, call for
Get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
"I picked up that she has two grown-up children";
- learn, hear, get word, get wind, find out, get a line, discover, see
Get in addition, as an increase
"The candidate picked up thousands of votes after his visit to the nursing home"
Take into custody
"the police picked up the suspected criminals";
- collar, nail, apprehend, arrest, nab, cop, pinch [Brit], nick [Brit]
Buy casually or spontaneously
"I picked up some food for a snack"
Register (perceptual input)
"pick up a signal";
- receive
Lift out or reflect from a background
"The scarf picks up the colour of the skirt"; "His eyes picked up his smile"
Meet someone for sexual purposes
"he always tries to pick up girls in bars"
Fill with high spirits; fill with optimism
"Music can pick up your spirits";
- elate, lift up, uplift, intoxicate
Improve significantly; go from bad to good
"Her performance in school picked up";
- turn around
Perceive with the senses quickly, suddenly, or momentarily
"The dog picked up the scent";
- catch
Eat by pecking at, like a bird
- peck
Gain or regain energy
"I picked up after a nap";
- perk up, perk, percolate, gain vigor [US], gain vigour [Brit, Cdn]