picket
picket Lexical Profile
picket Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person or group of people standing outside a workplace or other venue to protest an issue or persuade others not to enter, especially during a labor strike.
"The striking teachers formed a peaceful picket outside the school district headquarters."
A pointed wooden stake or upright board driven into the ground or attached to horizontal rails to form a fence or palisade.
"We spent the weekend painting the wooden pickets of the front garden fence."
A soldier or small detachment of troops stationed in an advanced position to watch for an approaching enemy and guard against surprise.
"The night picket reported movement along the ridge just before dawn."
• verb
To stand or march outside a workplace or other venue as a protest or to try to persuade others not to enter during a strike.
"Union members voted to picket the factory until management agreed to resume negotiations."
To enclose, fence, or tether with pointed stakes driven into the ground.
"The riders decided to picket their horses in the meadow near the stream for the night."
• Rhymes for picket
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 17th century from French 'piquet' (a pointed stake), a diminutive of 'pic' (a pickax or pike), derived from 'piquer' (to prick or pierce). The sense shifted from a stake used for tethering cavalry horses to the soldiers stationed by those stakes, and later to labor strikers standing watch outside a workplace.