plucking

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplʌkɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ʌkɪŋ

Verb

plucking

1. present participle and gerund of pluck

Noun

plucking (countable and uncountable, plural pluckings)

1. (gerund of pluck) An act in which something is plucked.
   • 2007 April 27, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times‎:

     Dirty Projectors builds elaborate “glitch operas” with stark pluckings of strings […] .

2. A fragment of something obtained by plucking.
   • 1937, Archibald Dixon Shamel, Carl Schurz Scofield, David A. Savage, Wheat Requirements in Europe:

     Yield per acre and moisture content of grass pluckings taken at 14- or 28-day intervals during the seasons of 1933 and 1934

3. (printing) The undesirable situation in which printed ink becomes detached from the paper.
   • 1959, E. A. Apps, Printing Ink Technology, page 415:

     Letterpress and offset gloss varnishes normally have viscosities varying from 50 to 250 poises; they must stain the paper as little as possible, have insufficient tack to cause plucking, […]