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picket

 - 5 dictionary results

pick⋅et

  [pik-it]
Use picket in a Sentence
–noun
1. a post, stake, pale, or peg that is used in a fence or barrier, to fasten down a tent, etc.
2. a person stationed by a union or the like outside a factory, store, mine, etc., in order to dissuade or prevent workers or customers from entering it during a strike.
3. a person engaged in any similar demonstration, as against a government's policies or actions, before an embassy, office building, construction project, etc.
4. Military. a soldier or detachment of soldiers placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance.
5. Navy, Air Force. an aircraft or ship performing similar sentinel duty.
–verb (used with object)
6. to enclose within a picket fence or stockade, as for protection, imprisonment, etc.: to picket a lawn; to picket captives.
7. to fasten or tether to a picket.
8. to place pickets in front of or around (a factory, store, mine, embassy, etc.), as during a strike or demonstration.
9. Military.
a. to guard, as with pickets.
b. to post as a picket.
–verb (used without object)
10. to stand or march as a picket.
Origin:
1680–90; < F piquet. See pike 2 , -et

Related forms:
pick⋅et⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To picket
pick·et   (pĭk'ĭt)   
n.  

  1. A pointed stake often driven into the ground to support a fence, secure a tent, tether animals, mark points in surveying, or, when pointed at the top, serve as a defense.

  2. A detachment of one or more troops, ships, or aircraft held in readiness or advanced to warn of an enemy's approach: "The outlying sonar picket.... was to detect, localize, and engage any submarine trying to close the convoy" (Tom Clancy).

    1. A person or group of persons stationed outside a place of employment, usually during a strike, to express grievance or protest and discourage entry by nonstriking employees or customers.

    2. A person or group of persons present outside a building to protest.

v.   pick·et·ed, pick·et·ing, pick·ets

v.   tr.

  1. To enclose, secure, tether, mark out, or fortify with pickets.

    1. To post as a picket.

    2. To guard with a picket.

  3. To post a picket or pickets during a strike or demonstration.

v.   intr.
To act or serve as a picket.

[French piquet, from Old French, from piquer, to prick; see pique.]
pick'et·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

picket  (n.)
1690, "pointed stake (for defense against cavalry, etc.)," from Fr. piquet, from piquer "to pierce" (see pike (2)). Sense of "troops posted to watch for enemy" first recorded 1761; that of "striking workers stationed to prevent others from entering a factory" is from 1867. The verb in this sense also is from 1867.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: pick·et
Function: noun
: a person posted by a labor organization at a place of employment affected by a labor dispute; broadly : a person posted for a demonstration or protest

Main Entry: picket
Function: transitive verb
: to post pickets in front of : walk or stand in front of as a picket picketing clinics —L. H. Tribe> intransitive verb : to demonstrate by use of pickets picket for recognition>; also : to serve as a picket —see also INFORMATIONAL PICKETING, ORGANIZATIONAL PICKETING, SECONDARY PICKETING —compare STRIKE
NOTE: While the right to peacefully picket for a lawful purpose is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, case law has recognized some limitations and the Labor Management Relations Act has placed some restrictions on organizational and secondary picketing. —pick··et·er noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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