pluck up
Britishverb
-
to pull out; uproot
-
to muster (courage, one's spirits, etc)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Ecclesiastes got it right about everything having a season, “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2025
Shrewd pumpkin pickers will pluck up the best of the lot the first or second weekend in October, the grower said, but last weekend’s rains probably reduced the crowds.
From Washington Times • Oct. 24, 2020
“If you're working with a bully, do you back down and cower, or do you try to pluck up your feathers and look larger?” she asked.
From Washington Post • Jan. 9, 2020
I had such low confidence I found it easier to hide my illiteracy rather than pluck up the courage to ask for help, mainly through fear of being labelled "stupid" by other kids.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2018
Werfel held out the bowl to his guest and watched Brangwain Spurge pluck up an apple and bite.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
