verb:transitive:plus_adverb
1 (lift) [+box, suitcase, cat] levantar; [+dropped object] recoger; coger; (take hold of) tomar; coger; agarrar; (LAm) I saw her fall and ran to pick her up la vi caerse y corrí a levantarla; that child is always wanting to be picked up ese niño siempre quiere que lo cojan levanten;or (LAm) she bent to pick up her glove se agachó para recoger coger su guante;or she picked up a pencil and fiddled with it tomó cogió agarró un lápiz y se puso a enredar con él;oror (LAm) you can't pick up a newspaper these days without reading about her últimamente no puedes coger agarrar un periódico que no hable de ella;or (LAm)
I picked up the pile of books she picked up her suitcase and put it on the luggage rack he picked up the kitten and stroked it he picked his cap up from the floor and stuck it back on his head for goodness sake pick up your clothes - don't leave them lying on the floor the air was full of flying objects, picked up by the winds he stooped down to pick up a coin someone had dropped
to pick up the bill tab (for sth)billortab (informal) pagar la cuenta (de algo) they left us to pick up the bill for the drinks the taxpayer will have to pick up the tab for the repairs his firm has agreed to pick up the bill for the court case who's going to pick up the tab for all those long distance calls? if you are ill, you must not expect the NHS to pick up the tab! the British public sees no reason why it should pick up the bill
to pick o.s. upo.s. levantarse; ponerse de pie; recuperarse; reponerse she is always quick to pick herself up after defeat we've got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and pick ourselves up now it is up to the team to pick themselves up and survive he picked himself up and struggled on she picked herself up and tried to brush the dust off her clothes to pick up the [telephone] the telephone rang and Judy picked it up all he had to do was pick up the phone and dial that number
2 (collect) [+person] recoger; ir a buscar; especially (LAm) (give lift to) [+hitch-hiker, passenger] recoger; coger did you pick up my laundry? ¿recogiste mi colada?
I'll pick you up at 9 o'clock I'll pick you up on the corner I'll pick it up on my way to work we drove to the airport the next morning to pick up Susan she was going over to her parents' house to pick up some clean clothes for Owen parents come to pick up their children from school on the way back from the funeral he picked up two hitchhikers
3 (learn) [+language, skill] aprender; [+accent, habit] coger; agarrar; (LAm) adquirir; (formal) you'll soon pick it up again pronto lo volverás a aprender; I picked up a bit of news about him today hoy me enteré de algunas cosas sobre él
where did you pick up your English? it's not difficult - you'll soon pick it up see what you can pick up about their export scheme she has always been quick to pick things up at school Demiris had a good ear and picked up languages quickly where did you pick up that accent? he had picked up all sorts of bad habits I know that smoking is bad, but once you've picked up the habit, it's not easy to give it up it's an affectation picked up from some friends of mine
4 (buy) comprar; (find) [+bargain] encontrar; (catch) [+disease] coger; agarrar; (LAm) pillar; (informal) an old car he picked up for £250 un coche viejo que compró por 250 libras; I'll pick up some beer on the way back compraré unas cervezas a la vuelta; I may pick up some useful ideas for my book puede que encuentre algunas ideas útiles para mi libro
I'm just going to pick up some things for lunch I picked up a real bargain Lana had picked up an infection after her operation they've picked up a really nasty infection from something they've eaten some kind of food poisoning that they picked up at dinner
5 (informal) (earn, gain) ganar; sacarse she picks up £400 a week gana se saca 400 libras a la semana;or
it picked up the best musical awardaward ganó se llevó el premio al mejor musical;or he managed to pick up a few points in the later events he picked up a reputation as a fierce opponent of gambling Labour picked up crucial extra votes from Tory defectors
to pick up speedspeed acelerar; coger velocidad; tomar velocidad; (LAm) Brian started the engine and pulled away slowly, but picked up speed once he entered Oakwood Drive the car pulled slowly away, then gradually picked up speed until it was out of sight the train picked up speed almost straight away
6 (informal) (sexually) ligarse a; (informal) he picked up a girl at the disco
are you trying to pick me up? ¿estás intentando ligar conmigo?
he had picked her up at a nightclub on Kallari Street, where she worked as a singer Clive had picked up some young man in the public lavatories
7 (Rad) (TV) [+station, channel] captar; coger; (Téc) [+signal] captar; registrar the dog picked up the scent he sniffed the air, trying to pick up their scent it was easier to pick up Radio Luxembourg than the Light Programme
we can pick up Italian television podemos captar coger la televisión italiana;or
Carl's ears picked up a strange, muted sound her ear was so finely tuned she could pick up a cough ten miles off their planes had been picked up on the radar we picked up a distress signal from the yacht the machine picks up minute changes in body temperature a receiver picks up the signals from a number of satellites German police discovered the problem when it was picked up by motorway cameras US radar tracking facilities can pick up the precise location of the launch
8 (notice, detect) he picked up ten misprints encontró diez erratas
she picked up every mistakemistake no se le escapó ni un error
I had no difficulty picking up the signals he was sending mesignals no tuve problemas para captar las indirectas que me estaba mandando she should be picking up inconsistencies as they occur staff these days are experienced in picking up early signals from pupils Consumers in Europe are slow to pick up trends in the use of information technology young people are picking up ideas about good drugs and bad drugs
9 (resume) [+conversation, narrative] continuar; [+relationship] reanudar our reporter in Houston picks up the story we picked up the conversation from where we had left it after 10 years in jail he picked up his relationship with Laura to pick up the [thread] of a story/an argument the plot is complicated, but irrelevant: you could pick up the thread at any point in the film he asked her to repeat an early part of the story so that he could pick up the thread again to pick up the [threads] of one's life it was a terrible blow but now maybe she can pick up the threads of her life with the crisis behind her, she began to pick up the threads of her life Abramov continued, picking up the threads of his previous observations it will obviously take you a little time to pick up the threads of your old job
10 (focus on) I'd like to pick up the point David made quisiera volver al punto que planteó David; the papers picked up the story los periódicos publicaron la historia
will the Toronto papers pick it up? I see several points I'd like to pick up can I just pick up that gentleman's point? the President picked up the theme in his next speech
11 (reprimand) reñir; reprender she picked him up for using bad language le riñó le reprendió por decir palabrotas;or
12 (correct) to pick sb up [on] sth
he picked me up on my grammaron me señaló diversas faltas de gramática if I may pick you up on that point si me permites corregirte en ese punto
don't pick me up on words may I just pick him up on what he said about women
13 (rescue) recoger; rescatar the helicopter picked up ten survivors most of the survivors were picked up by a passing fishing boat
14 (arrest) detener they picked him up for questioning Rawlings had been picked up by police at his office the police picked him up within the hour we've got all the evidence we need - let's pick him up I don't want you to be picked up for vagrancy
15 (revive) [+person] reanimar this tonic will soon pick you up este tónico te reanimará pronto
a dose of tonic will help to pick you up can you suggest something to pick me up? some essential oils relax you; others pick you up
16 (US) (informal) (tidy) [+room, house] recoger verb:intransitive:plus_adverb
1 (improve) [+conditions, weather, sales] mejorar; [+market, economy] reponerse; [+business, trade] ir mejor; [+prices] volver a subir the game picked up in the second half el partido mejoró en el segundo tiempo
things will pick up, you'll see they say the weather might pick up by the end of the week the economy is beginning to pick up the market will pick up soon I'll hang on to them until the market picks up he did not expect the market to pick up until next year analysts say the housing market could pick up soon the owner of the restaurant is hoping business will pick up Chinese officials hope that trade will pick up when the two countries switch to hard currency car sales should pick up when the recession is over prices may begin to pick up again soon consumer spending is at last picking up you'll have to wait until house prices pick up again if sales don't pick up by next February, they'll have to close down we've seen demand pick up twice in the last two years I think we will see employment begin to pick up soon industrial production is beginning to pick up support for him picked up last week as a result of some skilful media interviews
2 (increase) [+wind] levantarse the wind suddenly picked up when he left, the frenetic pace of her life picked up again
3 (continue) to pick up where one left off [+activity, conversation, relationship] continuar donde se había dejado
so you came back expecting to pick up where we left off, did you?
4 (notice, react to) to pick up [on] sth
I was getting nervous and he picked up on thaton me estaba poniendo nervioso y él lo captó se dio cuenta;or the press did not pick up on it la prensa no reaccionó ante la noticia
let me pick up on one thing here the company was slow to pick up on trends children quickly pick up on problems in their parents' relationship I wasn't to know they'd pick up on something I mentioned casually I'm surprised you didn't pick up on that problems that people are facing, which MPs can then pick up on and take to the House of Commons
5 (informal) (become involved with) to pick up with sbwith juntarse con algn she's picked up with a bad crowd se ha juntado con una gente no muy recomendable
mother used to be wild with me the way I'd pick up with just anyone
6 (tidy up) to pick up after sbafter ir recogiendo detrás de algn he expects me to pick up after him espera que vaya recogiendo detrás suyo
