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Entry 11 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Picket

/pĭk'-ĭt/ · Pick·et · IPA /ˈpɪkɪt/
01 n. A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.
  1. 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. 2.
    A pointed pale, used in marking fences.
  3. 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.) Also: outlying picket
  4. 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. 5.
    A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
  6. 6.
    A game at cards. See Piquet. 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.
02 v. t. To fortify with pointed stakes.
imp. & p. p. Picketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Picketing
  1. 1.
    To fortify with pointed stakes.
  2. 2.
    To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.
  3. 3.
    To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse.
  4. 4.
    To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.
  5. 5.
    To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.[Obs.]