pluck
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
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".
Inflected forms:
form: plucks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: plucking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: plucked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: plucked
pos: verb
tags: past
form: pluckt
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
participle
past
form: pluckt
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
past
form: plucks
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To pull something sharply; to pull something out
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.
The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined.
"I want to bring that date forward. You only get one shot at this, and if I pluck a date from the air, you will judge me by it. So, until I am certain, I'm sticking with the previous date. [...].
gloss: To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
The hardest mission fell to the tanker aircraft, decidedly unglamorous birds, mainly flown by Air Force Reserve crews—most of them plucked from their airline jobs—so rapidly called into service that FAA rules for crew rest time on domestic airlines were quietly violated for the next several weeks.
gloss: To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it.
gloss: To remove feathers from (a bird).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone).
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: Indeed they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they should never see again, and might fairly pluck.
gloss: To play a string instrument pizzicato.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.
gloss: To pull or twitch sharply.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: to pluck at somebody's sleeve
gloss: To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.
pos: verb
tags: UK
obsolete
transitive
examples: 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.
He went to college, and he got— plucked, I think they call it: and then his uncles wanted him to be a barrister, and study the law […]
Let us hide our heads, and shut up the page. The lists came out; and a dreadful rumour rushed through the university, that Pendennis of Boniface was plucked.
He had been a medical student, and got plucked, his foes declared, in his examination.
"Well, the gooseberry pie is really too deep for me: but 'ploughed' is the new Oxfordish for 'plucked.' O mamma, have you forgotten that? 'Plucked' was vulgar, so now they are 'ploughed.' 'For smalls; but I hope I shall not be, to vex you and Puss.'"
I trust that I have never plucked a candidate in the Schools without giving him every opportunity of setting himself right.
gloss: Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.
pos: verb
gloss: An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck.
If you find yourself in this position, there is nothing for it but to haul out using external assistance. This may be from a friend who will give you a pluck off the wall, or you may be able to manage from your own resources.
gloss: The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
informal
uncountable
examples: He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.
Pen had a very good mare, and rode her with uncommon pluck and grace. He took his fences with great coolness, and yet with judgment, and without bravado.
gloss: Cheap wine.
pos: noun
tags: slang
uncountable
Derived words: crow to pluck
ear plucking
have a crow to pluck
mispluck
overpluck
pluckable
pluck-buffet
pluckee
plucker
plucking
pluck out
pluck up
the old woman is plucking her goose
uppluck
hairpluck
pluckless
plucky
Translations: