| Front | pluck |
|---|---|
| Back | pluck verb, noun BrE /plʌk/ NAmE /plʌk/ verb verb forms word origin example bank hair 1 [transitive] ~ sth (out) to pull out hairs with your fingers or with tweezers She plucked out a grey hair. expertly plucked eyebrows chicken, etc. 2 [transitive] ~ sth 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) [transitive, intransitive] ~ (at) sth to play a musical instrument, especially a guitar, by pulling the strings with your fingers to pluck the strings of a violin He took the guitar and plucked at the strings. remove sb/sth 4 [transitive] ~ sb (from sth) (to 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 [transitive] ~ 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 [transitive] ~ 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. pluck sth out of the ˈair to say a name, number, etc. without thinking about it, especially in answer to a question I just plucked a figure out of the air and said: ‘Would £1 000 seem reasonable to you?’ pluck up (the) ˈcourage (to do sth) to make yourself do sth even though you are afraid to do it I finally plucked up the courage to ask her for a date. ˈpluck at sth to hold sth with the fingers and pull it gently, especially more than once tug The child kept plucking at his mother's sleeve. (figurative) The wind plucked at my jacket. noun word origin example bank [uncountable] (informal) courage and determination It takes a lot of pluck to do what she did. |
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