▪ I. ‖ pic1 Obs.
[= F. pic or ad. Sp. pico a peak. See peak n.2, pike n.3]
A peak. (Orig. in Pic of Teneriffe.)
| a 1667 Cowley Ess., Greatness Wks. (1688) 124 When it is got up to the very top of the Pic of Tenariff, it is in very great danger of breaking its neck downwards. 1669 Boyle New Exp. Spring Air xxiii. App., Navigators and travellers..do almost unanimously agree that the pic of Teneriff is the highest mountain hitherto known in the world. 1760–72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. 229 The signal was at first erected on the highest summit of Pichincha; but afterwards removed to another station at the foot of the pic. 1784 Cook Voy. I. iii, The Pic of Teneriffe, one of the most noted points of land with Geographers. 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 133 Near the centre there rises a pic, very steep, which seems to be elevated at least 100 feet above the hill on which it stands. |
▪ II. ‖ pic2, pike
(piːk)
Also 7 pick, 8 peek, 9 pik.
[= F. pic, a. Turk. pik, ad. Gr. πῆχυς ell, cubit.]
A measure of length, used for cloth, etc., in the (former) Turkish Empire and in the Levant generally, and varying from about 18 to 28 inches, there being a long and a short standard.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 249 Nineteene and a halfe pikes of cloth, which cost in London twenty shillings the pike. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 158 The Pic is a Measure of six Hands breadth. 1687 B. Randolph Archipelago 39 A pettycoat..that had above 40 pikes of dimity, which is about 30 yards; some have above 60 pikes. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Pike, is also the name of an ægyptian measure, of which there are two kinds, the large and the small. The larger pike, called also the pike of Constantinople, is 27·92 English inches. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 602 The daily increase [of the Nile] continues to be proclaimed, till it has attained the height of 16 peeks. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Pic, Pik, a variable Turkish cloth-measure, ranging from twenty-eight inches the long pic, to eighteen inches the short pic. 1880 Times 21 Sept. 8/1 A full Nile is represented by from 23 to 24 pics. 1893 Whitaker's Almanac 674/2, 1 Pike Nili = 21·287 inches. |
▪ III. pic3
(pɪk)
U.S. colloq. abbrev. of picayune n.
| 1839 Spirit of Times 18 May 129/1 The gentleman of the bar..set back the bottle and popped the ‘pic’ in the drawer. 1841 E. R. Steele Summer Journey in West 159 In paying for them I found a new currency here, my shillings and sixpences being transformed into bits and pics or picayunes. 1846 E. W. Farnham Life in Prairie Land ii. i. 291 ‘How much does the muskito-bar cost a yard?’ ‘Two bits and a pic, or three bits.’ 1850 ‘M. Tensas’ Odd Leaves Life Louisiana Swamp Doctor 51 The animal, didn't mind him a pic. 1855 ‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, What he Says xxiii. 202 A stranger must disburse an avalanche of ‘bits’, ‘pics’, and ‘levys’, before he can get even a plate of cold victuals. 1859 P. H. Gosse Lett. from Alabama 103 The negroes ferried me over the romantic river, for which I paid a ‘pic’ (i.e. a picayune, the sixteenth of a dollar, or half a ‘bit’), the smallest silver coin current. |
▪ IV. pic4
(pɪk)
colloq. abbrev. of picture n. Cf. piccy. a. In sense 2 b.
| 1884 Ruskin Let. 16 Nov. in S. Birkenhead Illustrious Friends (1965) xxxiii. 304, I am so very sorry I cant ‘reprieve’—as you call it—the ‘pics’. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed v. 82, I must see your pics first. 1910 C. E. Montague Hind let Loose v. 81 He was sent off to see some pics; an'..he saw..just what the men were about that had painted them. 1948 L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 98 I've suggested to Tambi that Runciman might do a small Patmos book to go with your pics? 1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke i. 17 The pics themselves are covered with fingerprints. 1971 Petticoat 17 July 3/2 They're sold with ready-cut pics. 1976 Sunday Post (Glasgow) 26 Dec. 13/3 I sent {pstlg}7.22 to photographer in Wembley for two coloured photos of a show jumping event in Warwickshire. When no pics came I wrote. |
b. In sense 2 i.
| 1936 Esquire Sept. 160/4 Raft's next pic is Proud Rider. 1970 Y. Carter Mr. Campion's Falcon iii. 26 The Hag is out for the evening—gone off..to the pics. 1973 ‘A. Blaisdell’ Crime by Chance (1974) vii. 125 All of a sudden, Latin romances sort of passé... Everybody doing the big war pics. |
▪ V. pic5 colloq.
(pɪk)
[Abbrev. picador or Sp. pica lance.]
a. A picador. b. A picador's lance, or the thrust made by it. Also as v. trans. and intr.
| 1925–6 E. Hemingway in This Quarter Autumn-Winter 206 ‘How about picadors?’.. ‘I've got to have one good pic.’ 1926 ― Sun also Rises ii. xv. 173 Watching the picador place the point of his pic. 1927 [see cut v. 54 h]. 1932 R. Campbell Taurine Provence 38 From the beginning of the 18th century we know almost every pass, pic, or estocada that has been performed up to the present day. 1934 ― Broken Record 195, I pic'd better than any of the professionals. 1957 A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia vi. 63 The picador rides slowly forward towards the bull, it charges, and just as it arrives he jabs the pic down on the top of its shoulders behind the neck muscle. Ibid. 65 The sight of a brave, powerful bull being pic'd honourably..is a fine one. 1967 McCormick & Mascareñas Compl. Aficionado ii. 30 If the toro refuses to take the pic, he is supposed to be returned to the corrals. 1976 E. P. Benson Bulls of Ronda iv. 26 The bull..felt the picador plunge the steel pic into its tossing muscle... Navarro distracted the bull and prepared him for another picing. 1978 M. Walker Infiltrator i. 11, I want to watch the pics. |
▪ VI. pic
obs. form of pick, pike, pitch.