pluck

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".

verb

1. (transitive) To pull something sharply; to pull something out
   She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.
   "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. …. December 2 2020, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, “I enjoy really big challenges...”, in Rail, page 53
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. 1937, Labour Party (Great Britain), Report of the Annual Conference (volumes 37-40, page 281)
   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. 1994, Tom Clancy, Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment, New York: Berkley Books, page 281
3. (transitive, music) To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc.
   Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it.
4. (transitive) To remove feathers from a bird.
5. (transitive, now rare) 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. 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Oxford, published 2009, page 64
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, university slang, transitive, obsolete) To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.
   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[…]. 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
   He had been a medical student, and got plucked, his foes declared, in his examination. 1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke
   "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.'" 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash
   I trust that I have never plucked a candidate in the Schools without giving him every opportunity of setting himself right. 1884-05-08, William Stubbs, “XVII. A Last Statutory Public Lecture”, in Seventeen Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern History and Kindred Subjects, published 1887, page 440
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.
   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. 2006, Tom Cunliffe, Complete Yachtmaster, page 40
2. The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
3. (informal, figurative, uncountable) Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
   He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.
4. (African-American Vernacular, slang, uncountable) Cheap wine.