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pluck

Pronunciation: /plʌk/

The English word “pluck” has 13 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To pull something sharply; to pull something out
  2. To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.
  3. To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.
  4. To remove feathers from (a bird).
  5. To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone).
  6. To play a string instrument pizzicato.
  7. To pull or twitch sharply.
  8. To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.
  9. Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.

noun

  1. An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
  2. The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
  3. Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
  4. Cheap wine.

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"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, 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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.