PLUCK • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Pluck

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/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.)

See images of 'Pluck'

Etymology of 'Pluck'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pluck" Quotes from Famous Books

... inside place, if you'll pluck up your heart; and you'll find yourself better with the motion of ...

— Tales And Novels, Volume 1 • Maria Edgeworth

... helping to undo the good work he had already done, and trying to rouse his troops into mutiny. The troops themselves were a great trial. They were lazy, treacherous, chicken-hearted fellows, with no pluck. "I never had less confidence in any troops in my life," Gordon said, and he declared that three natives would put a whole company to flight. The native Soudanese were as brave as lions. A native has been known to kill himself because his wife called him a coward. The Arab ...

— The Story of General Gordon • Jeanie Lang

... An account of their labours has been written by Mrs Isabel Thorne, and is called a "Sketch of the Foundation and Development of the London School of Medicine for Women."[1] It reads like a romance and shows the absolute determination and pluck which were needed by the women in order to gain their point. As one learns of the rebuffs and indignities which they endured, it reminds one of the struggle which is at the present time going on for the parliamentary vote. There is one ...

— Women Workers in Seven Professions • Edith J. Morley

... this world, that we should think of them? Do they not lead to destruction, even the flowery path of it, going down to the mouth of the pit, and with no way leading thence? Who is the woman for whose sake thou wilt lose thine own soul? If thy right eye offend thee, pluck ...

— Marie • Laura E. Richards

... his canvass for his seat at High Wycombe, but he turned his failure to good account, and established a reputation for pluck and influence. "A mighty independent personage," observed Charles Greville, and his famous quarrel with O'Connell did him so little harm that in 1837 he was returned for Maidstone. His first speech was a failure. The word had ...

— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 4 • Charles Dudley Warner

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