picket

1. n. A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses. Source: opted

2. n. A pointed pale, used in marking fences. Source: opted

3. n. A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket. Source: opted

4. n. 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. Source: opted

5. n. A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. Source: opted

6. n. A game at cards. See Piquet. Source: opted

7. v. t. To fortify with pointed stakes. Source: opted

8. v. t. To inclose or fence with pickets or pales. Source: opted

9. v. t. To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse. Source: opted

10. v. t. To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket. Source: opted

11. v. t. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. Source: opted

12. n. a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event Source: wordnet

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