pluck(2) (iou) and featly(2) (iou)

pluck(2) (iou)

pluck verb.
[Late Old English ploccian, pluccian corresp. to Middle Low German plucken, Middle Dutch plocken (Flemish plokken), Old Norse plokka, plukka, from Germanic, prob. from Proto-Romance base of Old French (es)peluchier (mod. eplucher) pluck.]
verb trans. Pull off, pick, (a flower, hair, feather, etc.) from where it grows. LOE.
J. M. Barrie Tweeny is..very busily plucking the feathers off a bird. A. Uttley Red roses..she had hastily plucked from the tree.
b. Foll. by up: pull (something) out of the place in which it is planted or set; uproot, eradicate; raze, demolish. Now arch. rare. L15.
fig.: E. B. Browning I plucked up her social fictions.
c. Geology. Chiefly of glacier ice: break loose (pieces of rock) by mechanical force on projections and cavities in a rock; erode (rock) by this process. (Foll. by out, away, etc.) L19.
Foll. by up:
a. verb trans. Summon (one's courage, strength, etc.); raise (one's spirits). ME.
R. B. Sheridan I'll pluck up resolution. L. Garfield The gentleman had..plucked up his courage to ask for the mistress's hand.
b. verb intrans. Recover one's strength; summon one's courage, raise one's spirits. arch. M19.
G. B. Shaw He eats another date, and plucks up a little.
a. verb trans. Pull at, esp. abruptly or with a jerk; twitch; sound (the string of a musical instrument) by doing this, twang, play (a musical instrument) in this way. ME.
Goldsmith Children..pluck'd his gown. M. Spark A girl was plucking the strings of a guitar.
b. verb intrans. Pull at, esp. abruptly or with a jerk, twitch something. Formerly also, make a sudden movement in order to grasp something (lit. & fig.). LME.
Tennyson The children pluck'd at him to go. L. Gordon Literally plucking at his sleeve while he talked.
a. verb trans. Pull, drag, snatch, away, off, out, etc. arch. LME.
H. Fast Simmons grabbed my arm..and fairly plucked me out of there. Joan Smith She plucked it from the letter-box.
b. verb intrans. Drag; snatch or take by force, steal. Also, draw a card from a pack. Long rare or obsolete. LME.
c. verb trans. Pull or tear apart, in pieces, etc. Freq. with adverbial compl. Now rare or obsolete. E16.
J. Ray Take a Rook and plucking it limbe from limbe, cast the..limbes about your field.
d. verb trans. Foll. by down: demolish (a building). arch. M16.
R. Simpson He ordered the church..to be plucked down.
verb trans. fig.
a. Bring (a person or thing) into or out of a specified state or condition; bring (disaster etc.) on a person; now esp. rescue (a person) from danger etc. Now chiefly arch. LME.
Dickens The grim life out of which she had plucked her brother. Daily Mirror Owner John Reed, plucked to safety with his fire crew.
b. Bring down, bring low; humble, humiliate. Foll. by down. M16-L17.
verb trans.
a. Pull off the feathers, hair, etc. from; esp. strip (a bird) of feathers. LME.
R. C. Hutchinson She was plucking a cockerel she had killed.
b. Shape or thin (the eyebrows) by removing hairs. LME.
S. Gibbons You shall not find me plucking my eyebrows, nor dieting.
verb trans. fig. Plunder; swindle. arch. LME.
G. W. Le Fevre To allow a fair profit to the proprietor without plucking the traveller.
verb trans. Reject (a candidate) as not reaching the pass standard in an examination. Usu. in pass. arch. colloq. E18.
G. A. Sala If you had to pass an examination for the post..you would in all probability be plucked.
Phrases: a crow to pluck: see CROW noun1 1. pluck a rose arch. slang (of a woman) urinate, defecate.
plucker noun (a) gen. a person who or thing which plucks; (b) a machine for disentangling and straightening long wool to make it ready for combing: LME.
plucking noun (a) the action of the verb; (b) something that is plucked: LME.

featly(2) (iou)

featly adverb. ['fi:tli] arch. LME.
[from FEAT adjective + -LY2.]
In a feat manner; gracefully, neatly, nimbly, deftly.

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