I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be plucked from obscurity (= to take someone or something that is not known about and make them well-known )
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The actress has been plucked from obscurity to become the new Bond girl.
pluck up/screw up the courage to do sth (= try to find it )
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He was trying to pluck up the courage to end their relationship.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
off
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It turned Lucifer's skin into black scales and plucked off his wings.
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Matt pulled him into the room, plucked off his glasses and shoved him on to the bed.
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One of the theories about the abandoned ship Marie Celeste is that the crew were plucked off by a hungry kraken.
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He was immediately plucked off and we plunged downwards, drowning in a tidal wave of powder snow.
out
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Benjamin then dug his hand into the empty manger and plucked out the remains of the horse's feed.
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He soon fell asleep, but woke with a start when his grandmother plucked out a hair.
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Dinah plucked out her handkerchief again, dabbed at her eyes and cleared her nose.
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Feeling an itch under her waistband, Fourth Aunt reached down and plucked out something fat and meaty.
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The Keeper of the Shrine of Asuryan plucked out his eyes but even this did not stop the terrible visions.
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In fact, they seemed very much like characters plucked out of a novel.
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Blackbirds have been riffling through the feather moss, plucking out chunks and scattering it about like bright green mattress stuffing.
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A Medic plucked out a needle-pistol and fired with splendid accuracy at Bjortson's muscle-corded neck.
up
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But why not pluck up the courage to do what you've always wanted?
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She plucked up the nerve to ask him.
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A year later, I plucked up my courage and became pregnant once more.
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I think you should pluck up the courage to invite him out.
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After a while, too, some of the more literary residents of Princeton plucked up the courage to speak to him.
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Kent suspected that if the fellow ever did pluck up courage to call he would be disappointed.
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On three occasions he had plucked up the courage to call her, but had never had a reply.
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Eventually I plucked up courage and booked a ticket to Amsterdam with the sole purpose of getting laid.
■ NOUN
air
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She senses rather than sees a pass, plucking it from the air even as she looks the other way.
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Conversations can and have been plucked from the air by eavesdroppers with scanners.
courage
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But why not pluck up the courage to do what you've always wanted?
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A year later, I plucked up my courage and became pregnant once more.
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I think you should pluck up the courage to invite him out.
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After a while, too, some of the more literary residents of Princeton plucked up the courage to speak to him.
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Kent suspected that if the fellow ever did pluck up courage to call he would be disappointed.
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On three occasions he had plucked up the courage to call her, but had never had a reply.
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Eventually I plucked up courage and booked a ticket to Amsterdam with the sole purpose of getting laid.
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Nelly begged me not to leave her, and plucking up courage I stayed.
eyebrow
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She could even pluck her eyebrows !
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She did not even like to pluck her eyebrows in his presence.
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She used lipstick and had plucked eyebrows and wore bright hats.
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Because you can lose your mind staying in two rooms, and so I fix my hair and pluck my eyebrows .
safety
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Mary O'Callaghan was plucked to safety by firefighters from her first-floor flat on the High Street on Saturday morning.
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Firemen waded through waist-high water to pluck 50 more to safety .
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The scalding flood swamped hundreds of homes and many people were plucked to safety by helicopter.
■ VERB
reach
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On impulse, Guy reached up and plucked the bud, avoiding the surrounding thorns.
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Feeling an itch under her waistband, Fourth Aunt reached down and plucked out something fat and meaty.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Dinah plucked out her handkerchief again, dabbed at her eyes and cleared her nose.
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Gently I reach to the side and pluck an apple off the tree, then drop it.
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She plucked the green scarf from the throat of her raincoat, spread it on top of the heap of boulders.
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She did not even like to pluck her eyebrows in his presence.
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She senses rather than sees a pass, plucking it from the air even as she looks the other way.
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They are the cache that geologists seek, and must be carefully plucked from the ocean bed.
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They finished their drinks and as they got up from the table Fernando plucked a sprig of jasmine from the pergola.
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When the Guardian arrived half an hour later, she plucked it from the letter-box with impatient hands.
II. noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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It takes a lot of pluck to do what he's done.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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All pluck and pomp, it rang throughout the hall in dulcet tones as never before.
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But luck was replaced by pluck and you won't see a finer display of it than last night.
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But, while Owens was a symbol of pluck during the flood, she also was a symbol of the flood.
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Collier and Leighton gush a bit too much for my taste, as though anyone with enough pluck can publish a book.
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Even Isay unbent a little, and grinned at a raven-haired wench when she made a lewd pluck at his staff.
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Like the relievers, hitters Steve Finley and Greg Vaughn showed pluck .
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Reality's raw challenge, especially if it engaged muscle and pluck , was his more favoured companion.
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The focus is on gallantry, derring-do, honest pluck .