Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PLUCK

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 853 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.

Encyclopedia Home :: PIG-POL

Spread the word:

del.icio.us it!

PLUCK , to pull or pick off something, as See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers from a plant, feathers from a See also:

BIRD

bird. The word in O. Eng. is pluccian or ploccian and is represented by numerous forms in See also:

Teutonic See also:

LANGUAGES

languages, cf. Ger. pfliicken, Du. plukken, See also:

DAN

Dan. plakke, &c. In sense and See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form a plausible See also:

IDENTIFICATION (Lat. idem, the same)

identification has been found with Ital. piluccare, to pick grapes, See also:

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

hair, feathers, cf. Fr. eplucher, pick. These romanic words are to be referred to See also:

LAT

Lat. pilus, hair, which has also given " See also:

PERUKE

peruke " or " periwig " and " See also:

PLUSH (Fr. peluche)

plush." Difficulties of phonology, See also:

HISTORY

history and See also:

CHRONOLOGY (Gr. xpovo?oyfa, computation of time, xp6vos)

chronology, however, seem to show that this See also:

close similarity is only a coincidence. " Pluck," in the sense of courage, was originally a See also:

SLANG

slang word of the See also:

PRIZE, or PRIZE OF WAR (Fr. prise, from prendre, to take)

prize-See also:

RING (O.E. hring; a word common to Teutonic languages; and probably cognate with the Lat. circus, Gr. KtpKOS or KpLKOS, Skt'. chakra, wheel, circle, cf. also " harangue "); in art, a band of circular shape of varying sizes, made of any material and used f

ring, and See also:

SIR

Sir W. See also:

Scott (See also:

Journal, See also:

SEPT

Sept. 4, 1827) speaks of the " want of that See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article blackguardly called pluck." In See also:

BUTCHER

butcher's parlance the " pluck " of an See also:

animal is the See also:

heart, See also:

LIVER (O. Eng. lifer; cf. cognate forms, Dutch lever, Ger. Leber, Swed. lefver, &c.; the O. H. Ger. forms are libara, lipora, &c.; the Teut. word has been connected with Gr. i'prap and Lat. jecur)

liver and lungs, probably so called from their being " plucked " or pulled out of the carcase immediately after slaughtering. The heart being the typical seat of courage, the transference is obvious. In university colloquial or slang use, " to pluck " is to refuse to pass a See also:

CANDIDATE

candidate on examination; the more usual colloquial word is now " to plough." At the granting of degrees at See also:

Oxford objection to a candidate could be taken for other reasons than failure at examination, and the See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person thus challenging See also:

drew the See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention of the See also:

proctor in See also:

CONGREGATION (Lat. congregatio, a gathering together, from cum, with, grex, gregis, a flock, herd)

congregation by " plucking " a piece of See also:

black See also:

SILK

silk attached to the back of his See also:

GOWN

End of Article: PLUCK

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PLOVER

[next]
PLUCKER, JULIUS (18or-1868)