| 1. | Also called cartouche. a cylindrical case of pasteboard, metal, or the like, for holding a complete charge of powder, and often also the bullet or the shot for a rifle, machine gun, or other small arm. |
| 2. | a case containing any explosive charge, as for blasting. |
| 3. | any small container for powder, liquid, or gas, made for ready insertion into some device or mechanism: an ink cartridge for a pen. |
| 4. | Also called magazine. Photography. a lightproof metal or plastic container for a roll of film, usually containing both the supply and take-up spools, as well as a pressure plate, for rapid loading without the necessity of threading the film. |
| 5. | Audio. pickup (def. 8). |
| 6. | a flat, compact container enclosing an endless loop of audiotape, operated by inserting into a slot in a player. |
| 1. | an improvement, as in health, business conditions, work, production, etc. |
| 2. | Informal. pick-me-up. |
| 3. | Informal. a casual, usually unintroduced acquaintance, often one made in hope of a sexual relationship. |
| 4. | an instance of stopping for or taking aboard passengers or freight, as by a train, ship, taxicab, etc., esp. an instance of taking freight or a shipment of goods onto a truck. |
| 5. | the person, freight, or shipment so taken aboard: The cab driver had a pickup at the airport who wanted to be driven to the docks. |
| 6. | Automotive.
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| 7. | Baseball. the act of fielding a ball after it hits the ground. |
| 8. | Also called cartridge. a small device attached to the end of a phonograph tone arm that contains a stylus and the mechanism that translates the movement of the stylus in a record groove into a changing electrical voltage. |
| 9. | Radio.
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| 10. | Television.
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| 11. | a hitchhiker. |
| 12. | Metalworking. (in the cold-drawing of metal) the adhesion of particles of the metal to the die or plug. |
| 13. | composed of or employing whatever persons are available on a more or less impromptu basis: a pickup game of baseball; a pickup dance band. |
| 14. | using whatever ingredients are handy or available: a Sunday night pickup supper. |

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cartridge
in weaponry, unit of small-arms ammunition, composed of a metal (usually brass) case, a propellant charge, a projectile or bullet, and a primer. The first cartridges, appearing in the second half of the 16th century, consisted merely of charges of powder wrapped in paper; the ball was loaded separately. During the next century, methods of including the ball with the powder were devised. In muzzle-loading a musket, the soldier bit off the end of the paper cartridge, poured a small amount of the powder into the firing pan, poured the rest down the barrel, and rammed the ball and paper down after it.
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