pluck

Universal Words verb, noun verb hair 1 [VN] ~ sth (out) to pull out hairs with your fingers or with TWEEZERS: She plucked out a grey hair. * expertly plucked eyebrows chicken, etc. 2 [VN] to pull the feathers off a dead bird, for example a chicken, in order to prepare it for cooking musical instrument 3 (AmE also pick) to play a musical instrument, especially a guitar, by pulling the strings with your fingers: [VN] to pluck the strings of a violin * [V] He picked up the guitar and plucked at the strings. remove sb / sth 4 [VN] ~ sb (from sth) (written) to remove sb from a place or situation, especially one that is unpleasant or dangerous: Police plucked a drowning girl from the river yesterday. * Survivors of the wreck were plucked to safety by a helicopter. * She was plucked from obscurity to instant stardom. 5 [VN] ~ sth (from sth) (written) to take hold of sth and remove it by pulling it: He plucked the wallet from the man's grasp. fruit / flower 6 [VN] ~ sth (from sth) (old-fashioned or literary) to pick a fruit, flower, etc. from where it is growing: I plucked an orange from the tree. IDIOMS pluck sth out of the air to say a name, number, etc. without thinking about it, especially in answer to a question: I just plucked a figure out of the air and said: 'Would ｣1000 seem reasonable to you?' pluck up courage (to do sth) to make yourself do sth even though you are afraid to do it: I finally plucked up the courage to ask her for a date. PHRASALVERBS pluck at sth to hold sth with the fingers and pull it gently, especially more than once: The child kept plucking at his mother's sleeve. * (figurative) The wind plucked at my jacket. noun [U] (old-fashioned, informal) courage and determination: It takes a lot of pluck to do what she did.