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Chambers gives 'Flower' as the 'best of anything' ie the 'Pick'

http://thesaurus.com/browse/pick

'up' refers to reversal

Les40.Mamya must be right. my tortured effort did not include any use of the word "pick".

Flower synonyms


Main Entry: best
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: most outstanding thing in class
Synonyms: choice, cream, cream of the crop, elite, fat, favorite, finest, first, flower, gem, model, nonpareil, paragon, pick, prime, prize, select, top

gawd,I'm getting confused now, of course it did. but it's wrong.

Les40. have you not heard the phrase "flower of scotland"........the dirge scots sing before we beat them at rugby,football,darts,etc.

I assumed that was the meaning in "the flower of young manhood". It sounds as if it's a stage in a man's life, but it's used collectively, as in "the war took the flower of...".

A propos "flower"; This setter had me going for ages on 16a;

"Flower composer cut and placed in a drawer (11)

until I had a lateral moment on the definition!

Yes, the OED has under the "pick" definition of flower: "...the flower of womankind".