Search the Dictionary

t once more, Oye laurels, and once more, Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude. Milton. More and more, with continual increase. "Amon trespassed more and more." 2 Chron. xxxiii. 23. -- The more, to a greater degree; by an added quantity; for a reason already specified. --…

Wool plucked from a dead sheep; morling.

command in personal danger, or under suffering; unshaken courage and endurance; coolness; pluck; resolution.

to fall. [Obs.] Who hath you misboden or offended. Chaucer. If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out... And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off. Matt. v. 29, 3O. Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Ps. cxix. 165.

To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck; to gather, as fruit from a tree, flowers from the stalk, feathers from a fowl, etc.

The act of choosing, plucking, or gathering.

To pluck; to fleece; to swindle by tricks in gambling. [Slang] Smart. He's pigeoned and undone. Observer.

A direction to violinists to pluck the string with the finger, instead of using the bow. (Abrev. pizz.)

imp. & p. p. of Pluck. Chaucer.

To strip of feathers; to pluck; to strip; to pillage; also, to peel. [Obs.] Bacon. Dryden.

To pluck and release quickly (a musical string); to twang.

To gather with the hand, or by drawing toward one; to pluck; as, to pull fruit; to pull flax; to pull a finch.

Plucked; pilled; moulting. " A pulled hen." Chaucer.

Fruit, as grapes, plucked from the cluster. Ray.

To pull off or pluck violently. [Obs.]

Courage; pluck; grit. [Slang] Sand badger (Zoöl.), the Japanese badger (Meles ankuma). -- Sand bag (a) A bag filled with sand or earth, used for various purposes, as in fortification, for ballast, etc. (b) A long bag filled with sand, used as a club by assassins. -- Sand ball, soap mixed with sand, made into a ball f…

To fix; to set firm. From their foundations, loosening to and fro, They plucked the seated hills. Milton.

. Sensitive fern (Bot.), an American fern (Onoclea sensibilis), the leaves of which, when plucked, show a slight tendency to fold together. -- Sensitive flame (Physics), a gas flame so arranged that under a suitable adjustment of pressure it is exceedingly sensitive to sounds, being caused to roar, flare, or become su…

foliate plant used as a national emblem by the Irish. The legend is that St. Patrick once plucked a leaf of it for use in illustrating the doctrine of the trinity.

To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or the like) by passing it over a flame.