Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To remove or detach by grasping and pulling abruptly with the fingers; pick.
- intransitive verb To pull out the hair or feathers of.
- intransitive verb To remove abruptly or forcibly.
- intransitive verb To give an abrupt pull to; tug at.
- intransitive verb Music To sound (the strings of an instrument) by pulling and releasing them with the fingers or a plectrum.
- intransitive verb To give an abrupt pull; tug.
- noun The act or an instance of plucking.
- noun Resourceful courage and daring in the face of difficulties; spirit.
- noun The heart, liver, windpipe, and lungs of a slaughtered animal.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In geology, to pry off or tear away, as blocks of rock from the lee side of cliffs or projections, or more moderate slopes: said of the action of moving ice, as in glaciers. See
plucking . - To pull sharply, as if at the folds of a skirt: used with at.
- In geology, to break off easily in large pieces, as granite. See
plucking . - noun A pull; a tug; a twitch; a snatch: as, he gave the sword a pluck.
- noun A blow; a stroke.
- noun A bout; around.
- noun The heart, liver, and lungs or lights of a sheep, ox, or other animal used as butchers' meat: also used figuratively or humorously of the like parts of a human being.
- noun Hence Heart; courage; spirit; determined energy; resolution in the face of difficulties.
- noun The pogge, Agonus cataphractus.
- To pull off, as feathers from a fowl, or fruit or flowers from a plant; pick off; gather; pick or cull, as berries or flowers.
- To pull; draw; drag: used either literally or figuratively.
- Especially To pull sharply; pull with sudden force or jerk; give a tugor twitch to; twitch; snatch; twang, as the strings of a harp or guitar.
- To strip, as a fowl, by pulling off its feathers; strip the feathers from: as, to
pluck a fowl. - To reject, after a university or other examination, as not coming up to the required standard.
- To summon or muster up: as, to
pluck up courage, spirit, etc. - Intrans., to collect one's self; gather spirit or courage.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with
at . - transitive verb To pull; to draw.
- transitive verb 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
- transitive verb To strip of, or as of, feathers.
- transitive verb (Eng. Universities) To reject at an examination for degrees.
- transitive verb to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away.
- transitive verb to pull down; to demolish; to reduce to a lower state.
- transitive verb to pull or tear off.
- transitive verb To gather up; to summon.
- noun The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch.
- noun The heart, liver, and lights of an animal.
- noun Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude.
- noun The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See
Pluck , v. t., 4. - noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The lyrie.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
pull somethingsharply ; to pull something out - verb transitive, music To gently play a single
string , e.g. on aguitar ,violin etc. - verb transitive To
remove feathers from abird . - verb transitive To
rob , fleece, steal forcibly - verb transitive To
play astring instrument pizzicato - verb intransitive To pull or
twitch sharply - noun An instance of plucking
- noun The
lungs ,heart withtrachea and oftenoesophagus removed fromslaughtered animals. - noun Guts,
nerve ,fortitude orpersistence .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and especially underhanded activity
- verb look for and gather
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pluck.
Examples
-
His words set me thinking, and I had to recognise, rather bitterly, that what I call pluck did not form a great part of my birthright.
A Poor Man's House Stephen Sydney Reynolds 1900
-
But of march he knows which there is no heal to "pluck from a mental stop a rooted sorrow."
Philadelphia Reflections: Shakspere Society of Philadelphia admin 2009
-
But of march he knows which there is no heal to "pluck from a mental stop a rooted sorrow."
Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009
-
And indeed, much pluck is roused in a dauntless fashion in space.
-
September 18, 2007 southern style big boys~ pluck from the vine, slice thinly sprinkle with sugar and salt
-
Jennifer, you know as well as I that hardy pluck is not what San Miguel Gringos are made of.
-
These I would pluck from the plants, pinching them off with my thumb nail.
-
We fatuously hoped that we might pluck from the human tragedy itself a consciousness of a common destiny which should bring its own healing, that we might extract from life's very misfortunes a power of coöperation which should be effective against them.
Twenty Years at Hull-House, With Autobiographical Notes 1910
-
A pig's "pluck" -- _i. e._, the "lights," or lungs, with the windpipe attached.
Voice Production in Singing and Speaking Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged) Wesley Mills 1881
-
After the struggle at the end of the centre, when I had to knit hundreds of stitches (literally) for every one I was allowed to pluck from the border, it’s a great pleasure to be steaming along so comparatively fast.
Jean's Knitting Jean 2009
brtom commented on the word pluck
"... the pluckiest lads and the finest body of men, as physique, in the service of our sovereign."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 5, 2007
Prolagus commented on the word pluck
Citation on plucky.
February 28, 2009
grant_barrett commented on the word pluck
This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day.
November 11, 2009
grant_barrett commented on the word pluck
This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day.
November 11, 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word pluck
my friend's brother nicknamed him "Pluck" for no apparent reason
December 2, 2010