different between ticking vs picking

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?k??/
• Rhymes: -?k??

Etymology 1

tick (“sheet, cover”) +? -ing (“material, collection”).

Noun

ticking (plural tickings)

1. A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
   • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous, chapter 1

     Harvey saw with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed-place. He was lying on a piece of dingy ticking full of lumps and nubbles.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

ticking (plural tickings)

1. A sound of something ticking.
   • 1842, Laman Blanchard, "The Frolics of Time" in George Cruikshank's Omnibus

     Were they indeed the tickings of a hundred clocks — the fine low inward breathings of Time's children!

2. An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.

Verb

ticking

1. present participle of tick

Derived terms

• the clock is ticking

Etymology 3

tick (“tick mark”) +? -ing (“having the property”).

Noun

ticking (plural tickings)

1. A marking that occurs on some horses. It involves white flecks of hair at the flank, and white hairs at the base of the tail, called a skunk tail or rabicano. Sometimes referred to as birdcatcher ticks.

See also

• Ticking in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?k??/
• Rhymes: -?k??

Verb

picking

1. present participle of pick

Noun

picking (plural pickings)

1. A gathering to pick fruit.

   We went to a strawberry picking last June.

2. (usually pluralized) Items remaining after others have selected the best; scraps, as of food.
   • 1899, F. Marion Crawford, Via Crucis, ch. 9:

     Gilbert wandered through . . .the haunts of ravenous dogs and homeless cats that kept themselves alive on the choice pickings of the city's garbage.

3. (usually pluralized) Income or other gains, especially if obtained in an unscrupulous or objectionable manner.
   • 1919, Anthony Hope, The Secret of the Tower, ch. 11:

     He liked the pickings which the job brought him much better than the job itself.

4. Something picked or pulled out.

   The schoolboy flicked his nose pickings across the classroom.

5. The act of making a choice; selection.
6. The final finishing of woven fabrics by removing burs, etc.
7. The removal of defects from electrotype plates.
8. Dabbing in stoneworking.

Synonyms

• (items remaining after others have selected the best): leftovers
• (unscrupulously acquired gains): See Thesaurus:booty

Derived terms