Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Picket

Pick′et (pĭk′ĕt), n. [F. piquet, properly dim. of pique spear, pike. See Pike, and cf. Piquet.] 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. [Probably so called from the picketing of the horses.] (Mil.) A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; — called also outlying picket.

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.

Inlying picket (Mil.), 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 (Mil.), a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm. — Picket line. (Mil.) (a) A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed at intervals. (b) A rope to which horses are secured when groomed. — Picketpin, an iron pin for picketing horses.

Pick′et, 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.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.