Library / English Dictionary

PLUCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of pulling and releasing a taut cord

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("pluck" is a kind of...):

pull; pulling (the act of pulling; applying force to move something toward or with you)

Derivation:

pluck (pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The trait of showing courage and determination in spite of possible loss or injury

Synonyms:

gutsiness; pluck; pluckiness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("pluck" is a kind of...):

fearlessness (the trait of feeling no fear)

Derivation:

plucky (marked by courage and determination in the face of difficulties or danger; robust and uninhibited)

plucky (showing courage)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Look for and gather

Example:

pick flowers

Synonyms:

cull; pick; pluck

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pluck" is one way to...):

collect; garner; gather; pull together (assemble or get together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pluck"):

mushroom (pick or gather mushrooms)

berry (pick or gather berries)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strip of feathers

Example:

pluck the capon

Synonyms:

deplumate; deplume; displume; pluck; pull; tear

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pluck" is one way to...):

strip (remove the surface from)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion

Example:

he plucked the strings of his mandolin

Synonyms:

pick; pluck; plunk

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pluck" is one way to...):

draw; pull (cause to move by pulling)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pluck"):

twang (pluck (strings of an instrument))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

pluck (the act of pulling and releasing a taut cord)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Pull or pull out sharply

Example:

pluck the flowers off the bush

Synonyms:

pick off; pluck; pull off; tweak

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pluck" is one way to...):

draw; pull (cause to move by pulling)

Verb group:

draw away; draw off; pull off (remove by drawing or pulling)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pluck"):

tweeze (pluck with tweezers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Rip off; ask an unreasonable price

Synonyms:

fleece; gazump; hook; overcharge; pluck; plume; rob; soak; surcharge

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "pluck" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

"Pluck" entails doing...:

bill; charge (demand payment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pluck"):

extort; gouge; rack; squeeze; wring (obtain by coercion or intimidation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 6

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

hustle; pluck; roll

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "pluck" is one way to...):

rip; rip off; steal (take without the owner's consent)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

Gravity waves are much like how a guitar string moves when plucked, while acoustic waves are compressions of the air (sound waves).

(Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source, NASA)

Then he plucked Martin and added him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The knife with which the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger, plucked down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned one of the walls.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She begged him to choose it for himself, but he refused to do that—I could not understand why—so she plucked it for him, and gave it into his hand.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was dozing myself in the evening when someone plucked my sleeve, and I found Challenger kneeling beside me.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As your ruler Mars gives you your strong competitive spirit and powerful energy, it is clear the golden apple is on the tree, ripe and deliciously ready for you to pluck.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Then he was a masterful dog, and what made him dangerous was the fact that the club of the man in the red sweater had knocked all blind pluck and rashness out of his desire for mastery.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

By drilling 2.5 kilometers into the seafloor and plucking microbes from boreholes 5 deep across hundreds of sites around the world, an international team of researchers has pieced together a model of the subterranean ecosystem hidden beneath the Earth.

(Researchers Create New Model of Ecosystem Hidden Beneath Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The second, called the mineral protection hypothesis, states that molecules of organic carbon may be forming strong chemical bonds with the minerals around them — so strong that bacteria aren't able to pluck the carbon molecules away and eat them.

(Carbon hides in sediment, keeping oxygen in atmosphere, National Science Foundation)