pluck

verb

1. (transitive)To pull something sharply; to pull something out

   “She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.”

   “The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined.”

   “"I want to bring that date forward. You only get one shot at this, and if I pluck a date from the air, you will judge me by it. So, until I am certain, I'm sticking with the previous date. [...].”

2. (transitive)To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.

   “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.”

   “The hardest mission fell to the tanker aircraft, decidedly unglamorous birds, mainly flown by Air Force Reserve crews—most of them plucked from their airline jobs—so rapidly called into service that FAA rules for crew rest time on domestic airlines were quietly violated for the next several weeks.”

3. (transitive)To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.

   “Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it.”

4. (transitive)To remove feathers from (a bird).

   “Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust.”

5. (archaic, transitive)To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone).

   “Indeed they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they should never see again, and might fairly pluck.”

6. (transitive)To play a string instrument pizzicato.

   “Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.”

7. (intransitive)To pull or twitch sharply.

   “to pluck at somebody's sleeve”

8. (UK, obsolete, transitive)To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.

   “For arguing that a man will be plucked take the Topics following: for among men likely to be plucked are these for the most part. He that hath no friends, he that hath many friends; the first because he hath none to put him in the right way; the second, because he hath many to draw him therefrom.”

   “He went to college, and he got— plucked, I think they call it: and then his uncles wanted him to be a barrister, and study the law […]”

   “Let us hide our heads, and shut up the page. The lists came out; and a dreadful rumour rushed through the university, that Pendennis of Boniface was plucked.”

   “He had been a medical student, and got plucked, his foes declared, in his examination.”

   “"Well, the gooseberry pie is really too deep for me: but 'ploughed' is the new Oxfordish for 'plucked.' O mamma, have you forgotten that? 'Plucked' was vulgar, so now they are 'ploughed.' 'For smalls; but I hope I shall not be, to vex you and Puss.'"”

9. Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.

   “Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck.”

   “If you find yourself in this position, there is nothing for it but to haul out using external assistance. This may be from a friend who will give you a pluck off the wall, or you may be able to manage from your own resources.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
3. (figuratively, informal, uncountable)Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.

   “He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.”

   “Pen had a very good mare, and rode her with uncommon pluck and grace. He took his fences with great coolness, and yet with judgment, and without bravado.”

4. (slang, uncountable)Cheap wine.