(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.
(n.) A game at cards. See Piquet.
(n.) A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
(n.) A pointed pale, used in marking fences.
(n.) A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.
(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.
(v. t.) To fortify with pointed stakes.
(v. t.) To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.
(v. t.) To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.
(v. t.) To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse.
(v. t.) To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.