pluck
B2Meanings
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1
verb
pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion
I plucked the strings of my mandolin.
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2
verb
pull or pull out sharply
pluck the flowers off the bush
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3
verb
To pull something sharply; to pull something out
She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.
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4
verb
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.
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5
verb
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.
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6
verb
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.
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7
verb
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.
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8
verb
To play a string instrument pizzicato.
Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.
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-West Germanic *plukkōn, 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 pluc…
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