1 [+ obj] : 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 [+ obj] : 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 [+ obj] 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 [+ obj] ▪ pluck a guitar string [no obj] ▪ pluck on a guitar string
b : to play (a guitar, banjo, etc.) by pulling and releasing the strings with your fingers [+ obj] ▪ She was softly plucking a banjo. [no obj] ▪ plucking on/at a banjo