pluck

== English == === Etymology === 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 after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness". === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /plʌk/ (Northern England, Ireland) IPA(key): /plʊk/ Rhymes: -ʌk === Verb === pluck (third-person singular simple present plucks, present participle plucking, simple past and past participle plucked or (obsolete) pluckt) (transitive) To pull something sharply; to pull something out (transitive) To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation. 1937, Labour Party (Great Britain), Report of the Annual Conference (volumes 37-40, page 281) First of all, he says a lot of the promotions from the ranks are promotions of the sons of officers who have gone wrong , or got "plucked," or what not, and who are brought up again along another road for commissioned rank. (transitive, music) To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar. (transitive) To remove feathers from (a bird). Synonym: defeather (transitive, now rare) To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone). (transitive) To play a string instrument pizzicato. (intransitive) To pull or twitch sharply. (UK, university slang, transitive, obsolete) To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree. Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === pluck (countable and uncountable, plural plucks) An instance of plucking or pulling sharply. The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals. (informal, figurative, uncountable) Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:courage (African-American Vernacular, slang, uncountable) Cheap wine. Synonym: plonk ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “pluck”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “pluck”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === UK plc