Meaning
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.
2. To strip by plucking; as, to pluck a fowl.
They that pass by do pluck her. Psa 80.
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. Lev 1.
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.
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. Jer 12.
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. Psa 74.
To pluck up, to resume courage; properly, to pluck up the heart. [Not elegant.]
PLUCK, n. The heart, liver and lights of an animal.
