Definition of "pluck" []

• To remove or detach by grasping and pulling abruptly with the fingers; pick: pluck a flower; pluck feathers from a chicken. (verb-transitive)
• To pull out the hair or feathers of: pluck a chicken. (verb-transitive)
• To remove abruptly or forcibly: plucked the child from school in midterm. (verb-transitive)
• To give an abrupt pull to; tug at: pluck a sleeve. (verb-transitive)
• Music To sound (the strings of an instrument) by pulling and releasing them with the fingers or a plectrum. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "His words set me thinking, and I had to recognise, rather bitterly, that what I call pluck did not form a great part of my birthright."
• "But of march he knows which there is no heal to "pluck from a mental stop a rooted sorrow.""
• "And indeed, much pluck is roused in a dauntless fashion in space."