pluck

n. 1. The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ Prob. so called as being plucked out after the animal is killed; or cf. Gael. & Ir. pluc a lump, a knot, a bunch. ] The heart, liver, and lights of an animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude. [ 1913 Webster ]

Decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See Pluck, v. t., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) The lyrie. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Plucked p. pr. & vb. n. Plucking. ] [ AS. pluccian; akin to LG. & D. plukken, G. pflücken, Icel. plokka, plukka, Dan. plukke, Sw. plocka. &unr_;27. ] 1. To pull; to draw. [ 1913 Webster ]

Its own nature . . . plucks on its own dissolution. Je&unr_;. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Especially, to pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off or out from something, with a twitch; to twitch; also, to gather, to pick; as, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes. [ 1913 Webster ]

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

E'en children followed, with endearing wile,
And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To strip of, or as of, feathers; as, to pluck a fowl. [ 1913 Webster ]

They which pass by the way do pluck her. Ps. lxxx.&unr_;2. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Eng. Universities) To reject at an examination for degrees. C. Bronté. [ 1913 Webster ]

To pluck away, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away. --
To pluck down, to pull down; to demolish; to reduce to a lower state. --
to pluck off, to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin. --
to pluck up. (a) To tear up by the roots or from the foundation; to eradicate; to exterminate; to destroy; as, to pluck up a plant; to pluck up a nation. Jer. xii. 17. (b) To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at; as, to pluck at one's gown. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having courage and spirit. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, plucks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou setter up and plucker down of kings. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A machine for straightening and cleaning wool. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ So named after Julius Plücker, a German physicist. ] (Physics) (a) A vacuum tube, used in spectrum analysis, in which the part through which the discharge takes place is a capillary tube, thus producing intense incandescence of the contained gases. (b) Crookes tube. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adv. In a plucky manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being plucky. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without pluck; timid; faint-hearted. [ 1913 Webster ]