pluck

Meaning

Verb

1. To pull something sharply; to pull something out
2. To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.
3. To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.
4. To remove feathers from a bird.
5. To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone).
6. To play a string instrument pizzicato.
7. To pull or twitch sharply.
8. (obsolete) To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.
9. Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.

Noun

1. An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
2. The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
3. (informal) Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
4. (slang) Cheap wine.

Concepts

pluck

pick

pull out

pull

courage

gather

cull

tear off

bravery

nerve

pick off

tear

pull off

boldness

guts

break off

pinch

grit

cut

harvest

mettle

spirit

valor

nip

valour

deplume

fortitude

daring

trim

nip off

giblets

clip

reap

sever

deplumate

displume

plunk

tweak

fleece

plume

spunk

wrest

collect

pull up

uproot

scale

remove

audacity

scratch off

tug

yank

bowels

pick up

gazump

hook

overcharge

rob

soak

surcharge

hustle

roll

gutsiness

pluckiness

fail

gut

pick out

twitch

snatch

strip

cut off

braveness

courageousness

gallantry

generousness

stoutness

valiancy

valorousness

heart

mettled

plucking

help

de-feather

drag

gatherpick

gather flowers

pinch back

snip

pride

will-power

pinch off

take away

bother

finger

pester

pare

peel

divide

lop

heart and the liver

bowel

face

flunk

sand

prod

tickle

plough

pick fruit

pull apart

rip off

snap

snap off

snip off

wean

abstract

detach

distract

elicit

extort

extract

pry

unfix

wring

prowess

elation

carve

cut out

slacken

clean out

molt

moult

draw

haul

hardihood

hardiness

temerity

snatch away

farm

bite

strip off

shave off

prune

wrench

bleed

burl

irritate

tease

tweeze

stoutheartedness

perseveration

tenacity

ply

foist

foist off

impose

thrust

innards

crank

fire

take out

yank out

good fortune

luck

success

play

scrape

shave

pluck out

select

take off

cohesiveness

mobility

moroseness

persistence

sedulity

sticktoitiveness

sullenness

chop

Pronounced as (IPA)

/plʌk/

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-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".