Picket /(?)/

Pick·et

Picket

n.
  1. A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.
  2. A pointed pale, used in marking fences.
  3. A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket. (Mil.)
  4. By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept outsiders, and prevent them from working for employers with whom the organization is at variance. [Cant]
  5. A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
  6. A game at cards. See Piquet.

Phrases & Compounds
Inlying picket
a detachment of troops held in camp or quarters, detailed to march if called upon.
Picket fence
a fence made of pickets. See def. 2, above.
Picket guard
a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm.
Picket line
A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed at intervals
Picket pin
an iron pin for picketing horses.

Picket

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Picketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Picketing

  1. To fortify with pointed stakes.
  2. To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.
  3. To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse.
  4. To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.
  5. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. [Obs.]