<B>pluck, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to pull off; pick. <BR> <I>Ex. to pluck a person out of bed. She plucked flowers in the garden.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to pull at; pull; tug; jerk. <BR> <I>Ex. to pluck a person by the sleeve.</I> (SYN) tweak. <DD><B> 3. </B>to pull on (the strings of a musical instrument). <DD><B> 4. </B>to pull off the feathers or hair from. <BR> <I>Ex. to pluck one's eyebrows. The farmer's wife was busy plucking chickens.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) to rob; swindle; fleece. <DD><B> 6. </B>(British Informal.) to reject (a candidate) in an examination. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to pull sharply or forcibly; tug (at); jerk (at). <BR> <I>Ex. She plucked at the loose threads of her coat.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the act of picking or pulling. <BR> <I>Ex. With a few plucks at the strings of his banjo everybody was singing along.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) courage; boldness; spirit. <BR> <I>Ex. The cat showed pluck in fighting the dog. ... the pluck, daring, and admirable work of our aviators (H. G. Wells).</I> (SYN) resolution, stamina. <DD><B> 3. </B>the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal, used for food. <BR><I>expr. <B>pluck up,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to get new courage; cheer up. </I> <I>Ex. Even those passengers who were most distrustful of themselves plucked up amazingly (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to uproot; demolish. <BR> <I>Ex. I plucked up her social fiction (Elizabeth Barrett Browning).</I> adj. <B>pluckable.</B> noun <B>plucker.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="plucky">
<B>plucky, </B>adjective, <B>pluckier,</B> <B>pluckiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> having or showing courage. <BR> <I>Ex. a plucky dog.</I> (SYN) brave, mettlesome, spirited. adv. <B>pluckily.</B> noun <B>pluckiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="plug">
<B>plug, </B>noun, verb, <B>plugged,</B> <B>plugging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a piece of wood or other substance, used to stop up a hole, to fill a gap, or to act as a wedge. <BR> <I>Ex. Put the plug in the drain before all the water runs out.</I> (SYN) stopper, stopple. <DD><B> 2. </B>a device to make an electrical connection. Some plugs screw into sockets; others have prongs. <BR> <I>Ex. When she put the plug in the socket, the light went on.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a place where a hose can be attached; hydrant. <BR> <I>Ex. Water was pouring out of the plug onto the street.</I> (SYN) cock. <DD><B> 4a. </B>a cake of pressed tobacco. <DD><B> b. </B>a piece of this cut off for chewing. <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=spark plug.</B> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Informal.) an advertisement or recommendation, especially one put in a radio or television program. <BR> <I>Ex. Mr. Harper reported the Democratic convention ... but ... has not mentioned it since last month and I want to put in a plug for it (Bernard De Voto).</I> (SYN) endorsement. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Informal.) a worn-out or inferior horse. <BR> <I>Ex. An old plug named Snowball kept getting in the way (Time).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>a fishing lure made of wood, metal, or plastic, and imitating the action or appearance of some natural food of a fish. <BR> <I>Ex. Some fishermen are taking fish on a jointed eel plug (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>an iron wedge which is driven between two other wedges (feathers) to split rock. <DD><B> 10. </B>a small clump of sod, especially sod sold to restore a lawn. <BR> <I>Ex. As the name implies, plugs are clumps of grass plants (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 11. </B>(Geology.) <DD><B> a. </B>a cylindrical mass of igneous rock formed in the crater of an extinct volcano. <DD><B> b. </B>a cylindrical mass of rock salt that has pushed its way upward through overlying rock and formed a dome, often containing quantities of oil and natural gas. <DD><B> 12. </B>(U.S. Informal.) a shopworn or unsalable article. <DD><B> 13. </B>(Slang.) a blow of the fist; punch. <DD><B> 14. </B>(U.S. Slang.) a plug hat. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to stop up or fill with a plug. <BR> <I>Ex. He quickly plugged the drain to keep the bathwater from running out. (Figurative.) Opinion was sadly split as to how the air-defense gap could be plugged (Newsweek).</I> (SYN) close. <DD><B> 2. </B>to connect to an electric circuit by inserting a plug into an outlet. <BR> <I>Ex. Plug the radio into the tape recorder to tape the program. Five children were plugged into a tape recorder, listening to a story (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) to recommend or advertise, especially on a radio or television program. <BR> <I>Ex. to plug a new product.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Slang.) to put a bullet into; shoot. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Slang.) to strike with the fist; punch. <DD><B> 6. </B>to cut a small tapering piece from (a watermelon) in testing ripeness. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>(Informal.) to work steadily; plod. <BR> <I>Ex. She plugged away at the typewriter.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang.) to hit; shoot. <BR><I>expr. <B>plug in,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to make an electrical connection by inserting a plug into an outlet. </I> <I>Ex. to plug in the television set. [He] brought a tape recorder into the Secretary's office, plugged it in, and asked a number of questions about Administration foreign policy (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(U.S. Slang, Figurative.) to connect or relate (to anything said or happening). <BR> <I>Ex. She could tell I didn't plug in to what she was talking about (W. J. J. Gordon).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>pull the plug,</B> </I>to disconnect life-sustaining equipment, such as a respirator. <BR> <I>Ex. Establishing brain death as a judicial standard ... permits the physician to "pull the plug" without even committing an act of passive euthanasia. The patient will first be defined as dead; pulling the plug will merely be the harmless act of halting useless treatment on a cadaver (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plugboard">
<B>plugboard, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a switchboard in which the connections are made by inserting plugs. <DD><B> 2. </B>a removable panel with many electric terminals into which connecting wire cords may be plugged to control a program or other process in a computer or punch-card machine; patchboard. <BR> <I>Ex. The instructions are programmed on the experimental equipment through a plugboard (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plugger">
<B>plugger, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person or thing that plugs. <DD><B> 2. </B>a dentist's instrument, of various forms, for driving and packing a filling material into a hole, as in a decayed tooth. </DL>
<A NAME="plughat">
<B>plug hat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) a man's high silk hat. </DL>
<A NAME="plugin">
<B>plug-in, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> needing only to be plugged in to an electrical outlet to operate. <BR> <I>Ex. plug-in fryers and griddles.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a place where a piece of plug-in equipment can be connected. </DL>
<A NAME="plugola">
<B>plugola, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) undercover payment for mentioning or displaying a product on another sponsor's radio or television program. </DL>
<A NAME="plugugly">
<B>plug-ugly, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a ruffian; rowdy; tough. <BR> <I>Ex. In one Harrigan play, a plug-ugly enters, sneaking along menacingly and brandishing a club (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plum">
<B>plum</B> (1), noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a round, juicy fruit with a smooth skin and a stone or pit. Plums are purple, blue, red, green, or yellow. <DD><B> 2. </B>the tree that it grows on. The plum is a member of the rose family and is closely related to the cherry. <DD><B> 3a. </B>any one of several unrelated trees bearing a similar edible fruit. <DD><B> b. </B>the fruit itself. <DD><B> 4. </B>a raisin or currant in a pudding or cake, especially in a plum pudding. <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=sugarplum.</B> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) something very good or desirable. <BR> <I>Ex. The new job is a fine plum for him.</I> (SYN) prize. <DD><B> 7. </B>a dark purple varying from bluish to reddish. <DD><B> 8. </B>(British Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>the sum of £100,000. <BR> <I>Ex. a stockbroker in the city, who died worth a plum (Frederick Marryat).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a person who has £100,000. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>made of raisins. <BR> <I>Ex. A plum cake has raisins in it.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>dark bluish- or reddish-purple. adj. <B>plumlike.</B> </DL>
<B>plumage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the feathers of a bird. <BR> <I>Ex. A parrot has bright plumage.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plumaged">
<B>plumaged, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> furnished with or having plumage. <BR> <I>Ex. some common dull-plumaged little bird (W. H. Hudson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plumate">
<B>plumate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Zoology.) resembling a feather, as a hair or bristle that bears smaller hairs, or an insect's antenna covered with fine hairs. </DL>
<A NAME="plumb">
<B>plumb, </B>noun, adjective, adverb, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a small weight on the end of a line used to measure the depth of water or to see if a wall is vertical; plummet; lead. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>vertical. (SYN) perpendicular. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) complete; thorough. <BR> <I>Ex. plumb foolishness.</I> (SYN) absolute. <DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>vertically. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) completely; thoroughly. <BR> <I>Ex. That horse is plumb worn out.</I> <DD> Also, <B>plum.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to test or adjust by a plumb line; test; sound. <BR> <I>Ex. Our line was not long enough to plumb the depths of the lake.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to get to the bottom of; fathom. <BR> <I>Ex. No one could plumb the deep mystery.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to close with a lead seal. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal.) to supply or repair the plumbing of. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to be vertical; hang vertically. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) to be employed as a plumber. <BR><I>expr. <B>out of</B> (or <B>off</B>) <B>plumb,</B> </I>not vertical. <BR> <I>Ex. The column is seriously off plumb (Pall Mall Gazette).</I> adj. <B>plumbable.</B> noun <B>plumbness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="plumbaginaceous">
<B>plumbaginaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> belonging to a family of dicotyledonous herbs and shrubs typified by the plumbago (leadwort). </DL>
<A NAME="plumbaginous">
<B>plumbaginous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of the nature of or containing graphite (plumbago). </DL>
<A NAME="plumbago">
<B>plumbago, </B>noun, pl. <B>-gos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=graphite.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of a group of herbaceous plants of warm regions, grown for their spikes of showy blue, white, or scarlet flowers; leadwort. </DL>
<A NAME="plumbbob">
<B>plumb bob,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the weight at the end of a plumb line. </DL>
