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Webster 1913 Edition

Pluck

Pluck

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Plucked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Plucking
.]
[AS.
pluccian
; akin to LG. & D.
plukken
, G.
pflücken
, Icel.
plokka
,
plukka
, Dan.
plukke
, Sw.
plocka
. [GREEK]27.]
1.
To pull; to draw.
Its own nature . . .
plucks
on its own dissolution.
Je[GREEK]. Taylor.
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.
Milton.
E’en children followed, with endearing wile,
And
plucked
his gown to share the good man's smile.
Goldsmith.
3.
To strip of, or as of, feathers;
as, to
pluck
a fowl
.
They which pass by the way do
pluck
her.
Ps. lxxx.[GREEK]2.
4.
(Eng. Universities)
To reject at an examination for degrees.
C. Bronté.
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
.
Jer. xii. 17.
(b)
To gather up; to summon;
as,
to pluck up
courage
.

Pluck

,
Verb.
I.
To make a motion of pulling or twitching; – usually with at;
as, to
pluck
at one's gown
.

Pluck

,
Noun.
1.
The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch.
2.
[Prob. so called as being
plucked
out after the animal is killed; or cf. Gael. & Ir.
pluc
a lump, a knot, a bunch.]
The heart, liver, and lights of an animal.
3.
Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude.
Decay of English spirit, decay of manly
pluck
.
Thackeray.
4.
The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See
Pluck
,
Verb.
T.
, 4.
5.
(Zool.)
The lyrie.
[Prov. Eng.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Pluck

PLUCK

, v.t.
1.
To pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off, out or from, with a twitch. Thus we say, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes or other fruit.
They pluck the fatherless from the breast. Job.24.
2.
To strip by plucking; as, to pluck a fowl.
They that pass by do pluck her. Ps.80.
The sense of this verb is modified by particles.
To pluck away, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away.
He shall pluck away his crop with his feathers. Lev.1.
To pluck down, to pull down; to demolish; or to reduce to a lower state.
To pluck off, is to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin. Mic.3.
To pluck on, to pull or draw on.
pluck up, 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. Jer.12.
To pluck out, to draw out suddenly or to tear out; as, to pluck out the eyes; to pluck out the hand from the bosom. Ps.74.
To pluck up, to resume courage; properly, to pluck up the heart. [Not elegant.]

PLUCK

,
Noun.
The heart, liver and lights of an animal.

Definition 2024

pluck

pluck

English

Verb

pluck ‎(third-person singular simple present plucks, present participle plucking, simple past and past participle plucked or (obsolete) pluckt)

  1. (transitive) To pull something sharply; to pull something out
    She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.‎
  2. (transitive, music) To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc.
    Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it.‎
  3. (transitive) To remove feathers from a bird.
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
      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.
  4. (transitive) To rob, fleece, steal forcibly
    The horny highwayman plucked his victims to their underwear, or attractive ones all the way.‎
  5. (transitive) To play a string instrument pizzicato
    Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.‎
  6. (intransitive) To pull or twitch sharply.
    to pluck at somebody's sleeve‎
  7. (Britain, universities) To reject at an examination for degrees.
    • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
      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 […].

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

pluck ‎(uncountable)

  1. An instance of plucking
    Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck
  2. The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
  3. Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
    He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

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"; > Modern English plitch), 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”), Dutch plukken ‎(“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte ‎(“to pluck”), Low German plukken ‎(“to pluck”), German pflücken ‎(“to pluck, pick”), Danish plukke ‎(“to pick”), Swedish plocka ‎(“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka ‎(“to pluck, pull”). More at pull.

An alternate etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *piluccāre, *pilicāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre ‎(“to deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus ‎(“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. [1]

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".

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plʌk/
  • Rhymes: -ʌk

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