Pluck \Pluck\, v. i.
   To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at;
   as, to pluck at one's gown.
   
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Pluck \Pluck\, n.
   1. The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch.
      
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   2. [Prob. so called as being plucked out after the animal is
      killed; or cf. Gael. & Ir. pluc a lump, a knot, a bunch.]
      The heart, liver, and lights of an animal.
      
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   3. Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude.
      
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            Decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck.
                                                  --Thackeray.
      
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   4. The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at
      college. See {Pluck}, v. t., 4.
      
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   5. (Zool.) The lyrie. [Prov. Eng.]
      
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Pluck \Pluck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Plucked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Plucking}.] [AS. pluccian; akin to LG. & D. plukken, G.
   pfl["u]cken, Icel. plokka, plukka, Dan. plukke, Sw. plocka.
   ?27.]
   1. To pull; to draw.
      
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            Its own nature . . . plucks on its own dissolution.
                                                  --Je?. Taylor.
      
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   2. Especially, to pull with sudden force or effort, or to
      pull off or out from something, with a twitch; to twitch;
      also, to gather, to pick; as, to pluck feathers from a
      fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes.
      
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            I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude.
                                                  --Milton.
      
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            E'en children followed, with endearing wile,
            And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile.
                                                  --Goldsmith.
      
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   3. To strip of, or as of, feathers; as, to pluck a fowl.
      
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            They which pass by the way do pluck her. --Ps.
                                                  lxxx.?2.
      
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   4. (Eng. Universities) To reject at an examination for
      degrees. --C. Bront['e].
      
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   {To pluck away}, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to
      tear away.

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

   {to pluck off}, to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the
      skin.

   {to pluck up}.
      (a) 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. xii. 17.
      (b) To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage.
          
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Lyrie \Ly"rie\ (l[imac]"r[i^]), n. [Icel. hl[=y]ri a sort of
   fish.] (Zool.)
   A European fish ({Peristethus cataphractum}), having the body
   covered with bony plates, and having three spines projecting
   in front of the nose; -- called also {noble}, {pluck},
   {pogge}, {sea poacher}, and {armed bullhead}.
   
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