crop vs pick

crop

verb
  • To remove the top end of something, especially a plant. 

  • To remove the outer parts of a photograph or other image, typically in order to frame the subject better. 

  • To cause to bear a crop. 

  • To beat with a crop, or riding-whip. 

  • To yield harvest. 

  • To mow, reap or gather. 

  • To cut (especially hair or an animal's tail or ears) short. 

noun
  • Tin ore prepared for smelting. 

  • The lashing end of a whip. 

  • A plant, especially a cereal, grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose. 

  • A group, cluster or collection of things occurring at the same time. 

  • A photograph or other image that has been reduced by removing the outer parts. 

  • The foliate part of a finial. 

  • The head of a flower, especially when picked; an ear of corn; the top branches of a tree. 

  • An entire short whip, especially as used in horse-riding; a riding crop. 

  • An outcrop of a vein or seam at the surface. 

  • An entire oxhide. 

  • A rocky outcrop. 

  • A pouch-like part of the alimentary tract of some birds (and some other animals), used to store food before digestion or for regurgitation; a craw. 

  • A short haircut. 

  • The natural production for a specific year, particularly of plants. 

  • A group of vesicles at the same stage of development in a disease. 

  • The act of cropping. 

pick

verb
  • To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground. 

  • To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released. 

  • To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together. 

  • To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails. 

  • To steal; to pilfer. 

  • To screen. 

  • To decide upon, from a set of options; to select. 

  • To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck. 

  • To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument. 

  • To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc. 

  • To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble. 

  • To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth. 

  • To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises. 

  • To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points. 

  • To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care. 

  • To intercept a pass from the offense as a defensive player. 

noun
  • Pasture; feed, for animals. 

  • A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum. 

  • A screen. 

  • A tool used for digging; a pickaxe. 

  • The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread. 

  • A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair. 

  • A pickoff. 

  • A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones. 

  • That which would be picked or chosen first; the best. 

  • An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate. 

  • A choice; ability to choose. 

  • A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock. 

  • A good defensive play by an infielder. 

  • An interception. 

  • An anchor. 

  • That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture. 

How often have the words crop and pick occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )