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pluck

UK/plʌk/ US/plʊk/ fairly common informal slang uk
verb (6) noun (2)

verb

1.

pull or pull out sharply

  • “pluck the flowers off the bush”
Synonyms
2.

sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and especially underhanded activity

Synonyms
3.
4.

pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion

  • “he plucked the strings of his mandolin”
Synonyms
5.

strip of feathers

  • “pull a chicken”
  • “pluck the capon”
Synonyms
6.

look for and gather

  • “pick mushrooms”
  • “pick flowers”
Synonyms

noun

1.
2.

the act of pulling and releasing a taut cord

Origin

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 with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass a...

Phrases

  • crow to pluck
  • ear plucking
  • have a crow to pluck
  • pluck out
  • pluck up
  • the old woman is plucking her goose

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Word family

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Related verbs

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.