plucking

To pull something sharply; to pull something out

“She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.”

To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.

To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc.

“Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it.”

To remove feathers from a bird.

To rob, fleece, steal forcibly

“The horny highwayman plucked his victims to their underwear, or attractive ones all the way.”

To play a string instrument pizzicato.

“Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.”

To pull or twitch sharply.

“to pluck at somebody's sleeve”

(university slang) To be rejected after failing an examination for a degree.

Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.

(gerund of pluck) An act in which something is plucked.

A fragment of something obtained by plucking.