Meaning of Idiom
Pick and Choose: to carefully select or choose the best (most desirable, appropriate, etc.) option from among a number of options; to be choosy when making a decision about alternatives. 1Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.,2Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,3Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.
Usage
“When you’re looking for an apartment to rent in New York, you can’t afford to pick and choose.”
“I like shopping online because I can take my time and pick and choose what I want.”
“A good chef knows how to pick and choose the best ingredients.”
Origin
Pick and choose are synonyms and thus are redundant in this idiom. Idioms which rely on redundancy tend to survive for very long periods of time. This one has been in use since the 1400’s. 4Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
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Sources
| 1. | ↲ | Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010. |
| 2, 4. | ↲ | Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. |
| 3. | ↲ | Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995. |