picnic

[pik-nik] /ˈpɪk nɪk/
noun
1.
an excursion or outing in which the participants carry food with them and share a meal in the open air.
2.
the food eaten on such an excursion.
3.
Also called picnic ham, picnic shoulder. a section of pork shoulder, usually boned, smoked, and weighing 4–6 pounds.
Compare daisy (def 2).
4.
Informal. an enjoyable experience or time, easy task, etc.:
Being laid up in a hospital is no picnic.
verb (used without object), picnicked, picnicking.
5.
to go on or take part in a picnic.
Origin
1740-50; < German Pic-nic (now Picknick) < French pique-nique, rhyming compound < ?
Related forms
picnicker, noun
Examples from the web for picnic
  • These easy to make picnic food recipes travel well and taste delicious.
  • It's an easy stroll to get to picnic benches overlooking the falls.
  • picnic options can be limited, and outdoor eating requires inconvenient amounts of plastic cutlery and paper towels.
  • Because the pitcher of beer placed at my outdoor picnic table continues to be miraculously cold.
  • Such people appearing at a picnic color the entire scene with the blue light of their austerity.
  • Twenty percent of watermelons never make it to the picnic table.
  • Katrina would be seen as a comparative lunchtime picnic in a light breeze.
  • As the party laid out a picnic, a sudden downpour sent its members scurrying for cover.
  • picnic tables are available under huge shade trees, and visitors are encouraged to bring lunch.
  • Judging by the high spirits of the crew, you might think we're out for a picnic.
British Dictionary definitions for picnic

picnic

/ˈpɪknɪk/
noun
1.
a trip or excursion to the country, seaside, etc, on which people bring food to be eaten in the open air
2.
  1. any informal meal eaten outside
  2. (as modifier): a picnic lunch
3.
(informal, mainly Austral) a troublesome situation or experience
4.
(informal) no picnic, a hard or disagreeable task
verb -nics, -nicking, -nicked
5.
(intransitive) to eat a picnic
Derived Forms
picnicker, noun
Word Origin
C18: from French piquenique, of unknown origin
Word Origin and History for picnic
n.

1748 (in Chesterfield's "Letters"), but rare before c.1800 as an English institution; originally a fashionable pot-luck social affair, not necessarily out of doors; from French piquenique (1690s), perhaps a reduplication of piquer "to pick, peck," from Old French (see pike (n.2)), or the second element may be nique "worthless thing," from a Germanic source. Figurative sense of "something easy" is from 1886. Picnic table recorded from 1926, originally a folding table.

v.

"go on a picnic," 1842, from picnic (n.). Related: Picnicked; picnicking. The -k- is inserted to preserve the "k" sound of -c- before a suffix beginning in -i-, -y-, or -e- (cf. traffic/trafficking, panic/panicky, shellac/shellacked).

Slang definitions & phrases for picnic

picnic

noun
  1. Something very easy; an easy undertaking; cinch, piece of cake: That job's a picnic (1880s+)
  2. A good or enjoyable time; a BALL, blast: The last week we had a picnic (1909+)
Related Terms

no picnic


Idioms and Phrases with picnic

picnic

see: no picnic