PLUCK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Pluck

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/plək/ Listen

verb

Pluck v. t. (past & past part. plucked; pres. part. plucking)

1.

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

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." "E'en children followed, with endearing wile, And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile."

3.

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

4.

(Eng. Universities) To reject at an examination for degrees.

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 pluck up a nation.

(b)

To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage.

Pluck v. i. To make a motion of pulling or twitching; usually with at; as, to pluck at one's gown.

noun

Pluck n.

1.

The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch.

2.

The heart, liver, and lights of an animal.

3.

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

4.

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

5.

(Zool.) The lyrie. (Prov. Eng.)

See images of 'Pluck'

Etymology of 'Pluck'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pluck" Quotes from Famous Books

... themselves upon ingenious handicrafts with the souls of departed utensils, for that is the name which in the Indian language they give their tools when they are burnt or broken. As he travelled through this delightful scene he was very often tempted to pluck the flowers that rose everywhere about him in the greatest variety and profusion, having never seen several of them in his own country: but he quickly found, that though they were objects of his sight, they were not liable ...

— Essays and Tales • Joseph Addison

... such a fuss about?" demanded Lapham, terribly crestfallen, but trying to pluck up a spirit. "I haven't done anything yet. I can't ask your advice about anything any more without having you fly out. Confound it! I shall do ...

— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... Lathrop Beasley, a tall, rather slender youth who had been their companion in Florida. Like the boys, Lathrop was an accomplished aviator and wireless operator, although he had not the initiative or the sturdy pluck to perform the feats that they had. He was, however, a boy of considerable brain and skill and among the boy-aviators of the country held ...

— The Boy Aviators in Africa • Captain Wilbur Lawton

... the superintendence of a limited number of our citizens, it is obvious that we could put forth more strength in such an emergency, at less sacrifice, than any other people of the same numbers. And thus we should in every point of view, "out of this nettle danger, pluck the ...

— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various

... white and straight lieth the road to Knowing, and down it in the heat and dust go all wise people of the earth, but in the fields before they come to it the very wise lie down or pluck the flowers. By the side of the road to Knowing—O King, it is hard and hot—stand many temples, and in the doorway of every temple stand many priests, and they cry to the travellers that weary of ...

— Time and the Gods • Lord Dunsany [Edward J. M. D. Plunkett]

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