pick to pieces

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It is, we confess, an unpleasant and an invidious task, to pick to pieces, bit by bit, the work of an author of high reputation.

From The Philosophy of the Conditioned by Mansel, Henry Longueville

Boil twenty minutes this time, drain off every bit of water, put on a platter to cool and pick to pieces as fine as possible, removing every bit of skin and bone.

From The International Jewish Cook Book 1600 Recipes According to the Jewish Dietary Laws with the Rules for Kashering; the Favorite Recipes of America, Austria, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Roumania, Etc., Etc. by Greenbaum, Florence Kreisler

Scarcely any proverb will bear picking to pieces, and analyzing, as a botanist would pick to pieces and analyze a rose or a tulip.

From The Diving Bell Or, Pearls to be Sought for by Woodworth, Francis C. (Francis Channing)

I have heard men pick to pieces a hand of whist with more antagonism.

From The Virginian, a Horseman of the Plains by Wister, Owen

Hopper was a born gossip, and if there was any one person he loved to talk of and criticize and "pick to pieces" it was Old Swallowtail.

From Mary Louise in the Country by St. John, James Allen