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Pluck
Definitions
- 1 An instance of plucking or pulling sharply. countable, uncountable
"Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck."
- 2 the act of pulling and releasing a taut cord wordnet
- 3 The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals. countable, uncountable
- 4 the trait of showing courage and determination in spite of possible loss or injury wordnet
- 5 Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence. figuratively, informal, uncountable
"He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck."
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- 6 Cheap wine. slang, uncountable
- 1 To pull something sharply; to pull something out transitive
"She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled."
- 2 look for and gather wordnet
- 3 To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation. transitive
"First of all, he says a lot of the promotions from the ranks are promotions of the sons of officers who have gone wrong , or got "plucked," or what not, and who are brought up again along another road for commissioned rank."
- 4 strip of feathers wordnet
- 5 To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar. transitive
"Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it."
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- 6 pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion wordnet
- 7 To remove feathers from (a bird). transitive
"Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust."
- 8 pull or pull out sharply wordnet
- 9 To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone). archaic, transitive
"Indeed they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they should never see again, and might fairly pluck."
- 10 rip off; ask an unreasonable price wordnet
- 11 To play a string instrument pizzicato. transitive
"Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break."
- 12 sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and especially underhanded activity wordnet
- 13 To pull or twitch sharply. intransitive
"to pluck at somebody's sleeve"
- 14 To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree. UK, obsolete, transitive
"For arguing that a man will be plucked take the Topics following: for among men likely to be plucked are these for the most part. He that hath no friends, he that hath many friends; the first because he hath none to put him in the right way; the second, because he hath many to draw him therefrom."
- 15 Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.
Etymology
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".
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