PLUCK, verb transitive

1. To pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off, out or from, with a twitch. Thus we say, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes or other fruit.

They pluck the fatherless from the breast. Job 24:9.

2. To strip by plucking; as, to pluck a fowl.

They that pass by do pluck her. Psalms 80:12.

The sense of this verb is modified by particles.

To pluck away, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away.

He shall pluck away his crop with his feathers. Leviticus 1:16.

To pluck down, to pull down; to demolish; or to reduce to a lower state.

To pluck off, is to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin. Micah 3:2.

To pluck on, to pull or draw on.

PLUCK up, 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. Jeremiah 12:14.

To pluck out, to draw out suddenly or to tear out; as, to pluck out the eyes; to pluck out the hand from the bosom. Psalms 74:11.

To pluck up, to resume courage; properly, to pluck up the heart. [Not elegant.]

PLUCK, noun The heart, liver and lights of an animal.