PLUCK AT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pluck at mean? 

• PLUCK AT (verb)
  The verb PLUCK AT has 1 sense:

1. pluck or pull at with the fingers

  Familiarity information: PLUCK AT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLUCK AT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pluck or pull at with the fingers

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

pick at; pluck at; pull at

Context example:

She picked nervously at the buttons of her blouse

Hypernyms (to "pluck at" is one way to...):

pull (apply force so as to cause motion towards the source of the motion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

As I passed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low voice whispered, “Walk past me, and then look back at me.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every now and then he would pluck at his hair, or shake his clenched hands in the air; and I saw the moisture glisten upon his brow.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you won’t be working on an artistic project, you may be rolling up your sleeves for a charity or humanitarian effort, for this new moon in Pisces will pluck at your heartstrings.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)