/ plʌk; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
HAIR
1.
[ vn ] pluck sth (out) to pull out hairs with your fingers or with tweezers :
She plucked out a grey hair.
expertly plucked eyebrows
CHICKEN, etc.
2.
[ vn ] to pull the feathers off a dead bird, for example a chicken, in order to prepare it for cooking
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
3.
( NAmE also pick ) to play a musical instrument, especially a guitar , by pulling the strings with your fingers :
[ vn ]
to pluck the strings of a violin
[ v ]
He took the guitar and plucked at the strings.
REMOVE SB / STH
4.
[ vn ] pluck sb (from sth) to remove sb from a place or situation, especially one that is unpleasant or dangerous :
Police plucked a drowning girl from the river yesterday.
Survivors of the wreck were plucked to safety by a helicopter.
She was plucked from obscurity to instant stardom.
5.
[ vn ] pluck sth (from sth) to take hold of sth and remove it by pulling it :
He plucked the wallet from the man's grasp.
FRUIT / FLOWER
6.
[ vn ] pluck sth (from sth) ( old-fashioned or literary ) to pick a fruit, flower, etc. from where it is growing :
I plucked an orange from the tree.
•
IDIOMS
- pluck sth out of the air
- pluck up (the) courage (to do sth)
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- pluck at sth
■ noun
[ U ] ( informal ) courage and determination :
It takes a lot of pluck to do what she did.
••
WORD ORIGIN
late Old English ploccian , pluccian , of Germanic origin; related to Flemish plokken ; probably from the base of Old French (es)peluchier to pluck.