Library / English Dictionary

PICNIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: picnicked    , picnicking   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any undertaking that is easy to do

Example:

marketing this product will be no picnic

Synonyms:

breeze; child's play; cinch; duck soup; picnic; piece of cake; pushover; snap; walkover

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("picnic" is a kind of...):

labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "picnic"):

doddle (an easy task)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any informal meal eaten outside or on an excursion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("picnic" is a kind of...):

meal; repast (the food served and eaten at one time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "picnic"):

cookout (an informal meal cooked and eaten outdoors)

Derivation:

picnic (eat alfresco, in the open air)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A day devoted to an outdoor social gathering

Synonyms:

field day; outing; picnic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("picnic" is a kind of...):

holiday; vacation (leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Eat alfresco, in the open air

Example:

We picnicked near the lake on this gorgeous Sunday

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "picnic" is one way to...):

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue picnic

Derivation:

picknicker (a person who is picnicking)

picnic (any informal meal eaten outside or on an excursion)

picnicker (a person who is picnicking)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He had been to the working-class picnics too often in his earlier life not to know what they were like, and as he entered the park he experienced a recrudescence of all the old sensations.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In vain Mrs. Chester alluded to her 'charming novel', and the Misses Chester introduced parties, picnics, the opera, and the fashions.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But he, on the other hand, a wit in his own class, a gay quizzer and laughter-maker at dances and Sunday picnics, had found the making of fun and the breaking of good- natured lances simple enough in this environment.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The day in Richmond Park was charming, for we had a regular English picnic, and I had more splendid oaks and groups of deer than I could copy, also heard a nightingale, and saw larks go up.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

On Sunday picnics at Shellmound Park and Schuetzen Park, in the past, he had rested his head on many laps, and, usually, he had slept soundly and selfishly while the girls shaded his face from the sun and looked down and loved him and wondered at his lordly carelessness of their love.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

One of the young ladies asked Jo where she got the pretty drab hat she wore to the picnic and stupid Jo, instead of mentioning the place where it was bought two years ago, must needs answer with unnecessary frankness, Oh, Amy painted it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I'm staying with some people up here in Greenwich and they rather expect me to be with them tomorrow. In fact there's a sort of picnic or something. Of course I'll do my very best to get away.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)