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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Picket

Pick'et, n.

noun

n. [Fr. piquet, properly diminutive of pique, spear, pike; Sp. piquete, It. picchetto.]

  1. A stake sharpened or pointed, used in fortification and encampments.
  2. A narrow board pointed, used in making fences; a pale or paling.
  3. (Mil.) A guard posted in front of an army, and with others forming a chain of outposts, in order to give notice of the approach of an enemy, and to prevent surprise by a hostile force;—called also outlying picket.
  4. A game at cards. See PIQUET.
  5. A punishment which consists in making the offender stand with one foot on a pointed stake.

Inlying picket (Mil.), a detachment of troops in a camp kept fully equipped, and ready for immediate service in case of an alarm, or the approach of an enemy; picket-guard.

Pick'et, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. PICKETED; p. pr. & vb. n. PICKETING.] 1. To fortify with pickets or pointed stakes. 2. To inclose or fence with narrow, pointed boards. 3. To fasten to a picket. 4. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.