A century ago they would have spent their days picking oakum.

Others picked oakum using a large metal nail known as a spike, which may be the source of the workhouse's nickname.

Both my mother and I have been picking oakum for the last week.

Do they still pick oakum, by the way?

It would be much more useful than picking oakum or sewing mail-bags for the post-office to mislay.

The parish decides the boy should earn his keep by picking oakum (a fiber used in caulking).

What I don't like," grumbled the Carter, "is to be locked up in a cell to pick oakum.

"But suppose, after you've had your night's sleep, you refuse to pick oakum, or break stones, or do any work at all?"

Perhaps there was nothing in it that would help her, but if she had to pick oakum, the only way was to find a thread and pull.

The first was picking oakum for sale.