pluck

verb

/plʌk/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they pluck	/plʌk/ /plʌk/
he / she / it plucks	/plʌks/ /plʌks/
past simple plucked	/plʌkt/ /plʌkt/
past participle plucked	/plʌkt/ /plʌkt/
-ing form plucking	/ˈplʌkɪŋ/ /ˈplʌkɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

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hair

[transitive] pluck something (out) to pull out hairs with your fingers or with tweezers

She plucked out a grey hair.
expertly plucked eyebrows

chicken, etc.

[transitive] pluck something to pull the feathers off a dead bird, for example a chicken, in order to prepare it for cookingTopics Cooking and eatingc2

musical instrument

(North American English also pick)

[transitive, intransitive] pluck (at) something 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.

Topics Musicc1

remove somebody/something

[transitive] pluck somebody (from something) (to something) to remove somebody 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.

[transitive] pluck something (from something) to take hold of something and remove it by pulling it

He plucked the wallet from the man's grasp.

fruit/flower

[transitive] pluck something (from something) (old-fashioned or literary) to pick a fruit, flower, etc. from where it is growing

I plucked an orange from the tree.

Word Originlate Old English ploccian, pluccian, of Germanic origin; related to Flemish plokken; probably from the base of Old French (es)peluchier ‘to pluck’.

Idioms

pluck something out of the air

to say a name, number, etc. without thinking about it, especially in answer to a question
- I just plucked a figure out of the air and said : ‘Would £1 000 seem reasonable to you?’

pluck up (the) courage (to do something)

to make yourself do something even though you are afraid to do it
- I finally plucked up the courage to ask her for a date.