plucks; plucked; plucking
1
: to pull (something) quickly to remove it
My sister plucked a white hair from my head.
The hunter plucked the bird's feathers.
plucking petals off/from a flower
pluck [=pick] a lemon from the tree
2
: to remove some or all of the feathers or hairs from (something)
They plucked a chicken.
She plucks her eyebrows. [=she regularly removes some of the hairs in her eyebrows to make her eyebrows have a particular shape]
3
always followed by an adverb or preposition
a
: to take (someone or something) away from a place or situation suddenly or by force
Firefighters plucked the child from the top floor of the burning building.
He'd been plucked from obscurity and thrust into the national spotlight.
a cat that was plucked off the city's streets last winter
b
: to select or take (something) usually from a group, container, or place
We plucked [=chose] passages at random from the book and read them aloud.
He plucked a stone out of the river.
4
a
: to pull and release (a string on a musical instrument) with your fingers in order to make a sound
pluck a guitar string
pluck on a guitar string
b
: to play (a guitar, banjo, etc.) by pulling and releasing the strings with your fingers
She was softly plucking a banjo.
plucking on/at a banjo
old-fashioned + informal
: a quality that makes you continue trying to do or achieve something that is difficult : courage and determination
It takes pluck to do what she did.
She showed pluck in getting up on stage.
Cite this Entry
“Pluck.” Merriam-Webster.com Simple Definition, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/simple/pluck. Accessed 28 Jul. 2026.
Copy Citation
