PLUCK

pluck

(noun) the act of pulling and releasing a taut cord

gutsiness, pluck, pluckiness

(noun) the trait of showing courage and determination in spite of possible loss or injury

pick, pluck, cull

(verb) look for and gather; “pick mushrooms”; “pick flowers”

pluck, pull, tear, deplume, deplumate, displume

(verb) strip of feathers; “pull a chicken”; “pluck the capon”

pluck, plunk, pick

(verb) pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion; “he plucked the strings of his mandolin”

pluck, tweak, pull off, pick off

(verb) pull or pull out sharply; “pluck the flowers off the bush”

overcharge, soak, surcharge, gazump, fleece, plume, pluck, rob, hook

(verb) rip off; ask an unreasonable price

hustle, pluck, roll

(verb) sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and especially underhanded activity

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Verb

pluck (third-person singular simple present plucks, present participle plucking, simple past and past participle (obsolete) pluckt or plucked)

(transitive) To pull something sharply; to pull something out

(transitive) To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.

(transitive, music) To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc.

(transitive) To remove feathers from a bird.

(transitive) To rob, fleece, steal forcibly

(transitive) To play a string instrument pizzicato.

(intransitive) To pull or twitch sharply.

(UK, university slang, obsolete) To be rejected after failing an examination for a degree.

Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.

Noun

pluck (countable and uncountable, plural plucks)

An instance of plucking.

The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.

(informal, figurative) Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.

Synonym: Thesaurus:courage

(African-American Vernacular, slang) Cheap wine.

Synonym: plonk

Anagrams

• UK plc

Source: Wiktionary

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Pluck, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plucked; p. pr. & vb. n. Plucking.] Etym: [AS. pluccian; akin to LG. & D. plukken, G. pflücken, Icel. plokka, plukka, Dan. plukke, Sw. plocka.

1. To pull; to draw. Its own nature . . . plucks on its own dissolution. Je

2. Especially, to pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off or out from something, with a twitch; to twitch; also, to gather, to pick; as, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes. I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude. Milton. E'en children followed, with endearing wile, And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile. Goldsmith.

3. To strip of, or as of, feathers; as, to pluck a fowl. They which pass by the way do pluck her. Ps. lxxx.

4. (Eng. Universities)

Definition: To reject at an examination for degrees. C. Bronté. To pluck away, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away.

– To pluck down, to pull down; to demolish; to reduce to a lower state.

– to pluck off, to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin.

– to pluck up. (a) To tear up by the roots or from the foundation; to eradicate; to exterminate; to destroy; as, to pluck up a plant; to pluk up a nation. Jer. xii. 17. (b) To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage.

Pluck, v. i.

Definition: To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at; as, to pluck at one's gown.

Pluck, n.

1. The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch.

2. Etym: [Prob. so called as being plucked out after the animal is killed; or cf. Gael. & Ir. pluc a lump, a knot, a bunch.]

Definition: The heart, liver, and lights of an animal.

3. Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude. Decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck. Thackeray.

4. The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See Pluck, v. t., 4.

5. (Zoöl.)

Definition: The lyrie. [Prov. Eng.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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