Plucking meaning : To pull something sharply; to pull something out 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. To remove feathers from a bird. To rob, fleece, steal forcibly To play a string instrument pizzicato. To pull or twitch sharply. (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.