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Pluck   /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.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pluck" Quotes from Famous Books



... once more into a heap of incoherent fragments. The last trial of the virtues of the Patent Redintegrator by the Special Committee of the Tract Society has ended like all the rest, and as all attempts to buy peace at too dear a rate must end. Peace is an excellent thing, but principle and pluck are better; and the man who sacrifices them to gain it finds at last that he has crouched under the Caudine yoke to purchase only a contemptuous toleration, that leaves him at war with his own self-respect and the invincible forces ...
— The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V - Political Essays • James Russell Lowell
... and shown no want of pluck, my lad," said the surgeon as a parting word of encouragement and cheer. "Lie still and you'll be able to see your friends by and by. I believe you'll do famously, and we'll see whether a substitute cannot be found for ...
— A Houseful of Girls • Sarah Tytler
... blooming out now, and nightly as I wend homeward I pluck a handful of it, gathering along with its life the tranquil sunshine, the autumnal notes of the cardinal passing to better lands, and all the healthful influences of the fields. I shall make me a tribute of it to the memory ...
— Aftermath • James Lane Allen
... grand scene, and I began to think there was some real pluck in Bisgaum after all, although there was a total want of discipline; but just as I felt inclined to applaud, the victorious elephant was seized with a sudden panic, and turning tail, he rushed along the bottom of the watercourse at the rate of 20 miles an ...
— Wild Beasts and their Ways • Sir Samuel W. Baker
... conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at the same time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of Boisot's fleet, which still lay stranded at North Aa. "As well," shouted the Spaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley


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