picquets

noun

1. 1

   A stake driven into the ground.

   “a picket fence”

2. 2

   A type of punishment by which an offender had to rest his or her entire body weight on the top of a small stake.

3. 3

   A tool in mountaineering that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor or to arrest falls.

4. 4

   One of the soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance; or any unit (for example, an aircraft or ship) performing a similar function.

5. 5

   (sometimes figurative) A sentry.

6. 6

   A protester positioned outside an office, workplace etc. during a strike (usually in plural); also the protest itself.

   “Pickets normally endeavor to be non-violent.”

7. 7

   The card game piquet.