pluck
v.to pull something quickly to remove it, or to pull the strings of a musical instrument to make a sound.
v.to pull something sharply or quickly from its place; to sound the strings of an instrument using the fingers or a plectrum. Transitive — requires a direct object.
“She had to pluck the dead leaves off the plant.”
“The guitarist began to pluck a gentle melody that filled the quiet room.”
“In a display of both skill and patience, the artisan would pluck individual silk threads from the loom to correct even the slightest imperfection in the tapestry's pattern.”
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object; often used with 'out', 'off', or 'from'.
“In the event, we needn’t have worried, but you have to admire his pluck.”
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic plukkōną, plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.