pluck

Pluck is defined as to grab, pick or pull out.

(verb)

An example of pluck is using tweezers to pull out unwanted hairs in eyebrows.

Pluck means courage.

(noun)

An example of pluck is a twelve year old girl that successfully completes a spelling contest without any help from her parents.

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See pluck in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

  1. to pull off or out; pick
  2. to drag or snatch; grab
  3. to pull feathers or hair from: to pluck a chicken, pluck eyebrows
  4. to pull at (the strings of a musical instrument) and release quickly with little jerking movements of the fingers
  5. Slang to rob or swindle

Origin: ME plukken < OE pluccian, akin to Ger pflücken < VL *piluccare, to pull out (> Fr éplucher), for L pilare, to deprive of hair < pilus, hair: see pile

intransitive verb

  1. to pull; tug; snatch: often with at
  2. to pluck a musical instrument

noun

  1. an act of pulling; tug
  2. an animal's heart, liver, lungs, and windpipe, used for food
  3. courage to meet danger or difficulty; fortitude

Related Forms:

See pluck in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb plucked, pluck·ing, plucks
verb, transitive
  1. To remove or detach by grasping and pulling abruptly with the fingers; pick: pluck a flower; pluck feathers from a chicken.
  2. To pull out the hair or feathers of: pluck a chicken.
  3. To remove abruptly or forcibly: plucked the child from school in midterm.
  4. To give an abrupt pull to; tug at: pluck a sleeve.
  5. Music To sound (the strings of an instrument) by pulling and releasing them with the fingers or a plectrum.
verb, intransitive
To give an abrupt pull; tug.
noun
  1. The act or an instance of plucking.
  2. Resourceful courage and daring in the face of difficulties; spirit.
  3. The heart, liver, windpipe, and lungs of a slaughtered animal.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English plukken

Origin: , from Old English pluccian

Origin: , probably from Vulgar Latin *piluccāre

Origin: , ultimately from Latin pilāre

Origin: , from pilus, hair

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Related Forms:

  • pluckˈer noun

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