pluck
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Old English pluccian, ploccian, from Proto-West-Germanic, ultimately from Latin pilare (“to deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Cognate with German pflücken, Dutch plukken, Icelandish plokka, plukka, Danish plukke, Swedish plocka.
Noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcas 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".
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
pluck (third-person singular simple present plucks, present participle plucking, simple past and past participle plucked or obsolete, pluckt)
- (transitive) To pull something sharply; to pull something out
- She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined. She held the flower to her face with a long-drawn inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, opened the door without knocking, and entered the house with the air of one thoroughly at home.
- (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.
- (transitive) To remove feathers from a bird.
- (transitive) To rob, fleece, steal forcibly
- The horny highwayman plucked his victims to their underwear, or attractive ones all the way
- (transitive) To play a string instrument pizzicato
- Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break
- (intransitive) To pull or twitch sharply
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
[edit] Noun
pluck (uncountable)
- An instance of plucking
- Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck
- The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
- Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
- He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
[edit] References
- pluck in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- pluck in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
