pluck
pluck [pluck plucks plucked plucking] verb, noun BrE [plʌk] NAmE [plʌk]
verb
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.
Verb forms: 
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’.
Example Bank:
•He plucked the wallet from the man's grasp.
•Her eyebrows had been plucked and pencilled.
•Rescuers managed to pluck the girl from the water.
•Survivors were plucked to safety by a helicopter.
Idioms: ↑pluck something out of the air ▪ ↑pluck up courage
Derived: ↑pluck at something
noun uncountable (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’.
Example Bank:
•It takes some pluck to stand up to bullies like that.
See also: ↑pick
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