pluck
pluck is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 9 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 1.To strip of, or as of, feathers; as, to pluck a fowl. They which pass by the way do pluck her. Ps. lxxx.
- 2.(Eng. Universities) To reject at an examination for degrees. C. Bronté. 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 pluk up a nation. Jer. xii.
- 3.(b) To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage.
- 4.To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at; as, to pluck at one's gown.
- 5.The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch.
- 6.Etym: [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.
- 7.Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude. Decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck. Thackeray.
- 8.The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See Pluck, v. t., 4.
- 9.(Zoöl.) The lyrie. [Prov. Eng.]
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Synonyms
Related terms (Roget's 1911)
- about
- anger
- animus
- aside
- avenge
- avengeance
- avengement
- avenger
- away
- bear
- blood
- bone
- breast
- breathe
- cast
- chosen
- crow
- day
- death
- declination
- decline
- deny
- discard
- disclaim
- done
- eject
- est
- except
- exclude
- exclusion
- feeling
- feud
- fling
- for
- give
- green
- harbor
- have
- high
- hip
Source: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
Related questions
Reverse-dictionary questions
Definition-first questions whose answer is pluck.
- What is to strip of, or as of, feathers; as, to pluck a fowl. They which pass by the way do pluck her. Ps. lxxx called?
- What is (b) To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage called?
- What is to make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at; as, to pluck at one's gown called?
- What is etym: [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 called?
- What is spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude. Decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck. Thackeray called?
- What is the act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See Pluck, v. t., 4 called?
Sources
- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Synonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
- Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/pluck
- Steward: Jason Burns