plucking

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“
A pigeon for the plucking -- the lad you have called friend! "retorted the other.

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Definitions (5)

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  1. An act denoted by the verb pluck; specifically in geology, the process by which blocks of bed-rock are torn from their ledges by moving ice. The term is applied especially to this effect on the downward slopes, where the dragging action of ice seems to be of importance, as indicated in the term. Plucking is the process involved in the head-ward extension of glacial valleys and of the excavation of cirques. Great stress is laid upon the excavating action of ice by the process of “plucking,” in which “blocks of bedrock, being partly surrounded by the ice, are forced from their bearings and rolled or slidden forward” (p. 203). Nature, July 7, 1904, p. 218.
  2. Close plucking in tea-growing, the system of picking the shoots while very young, leaving no new growth except the jhannum, or sheath-leaf, at the base of the shoot. Except late in the season this results in weakening the bushes.
  3. Coarse plucking in tea-growing, a mode of picking in which larger leaves are taken than in fine plucking (which see).
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Examples (50)

  • A plucking, a singing through the air, and then a gasp from Lord Crawforth. —  Karen Harbaugh - [Cupid -1] - Cupid's Mistake
  • Sometimes I caught an insect in the flower I was plucking, and I felt the faint noise of a pair of wings rubbed together in a sudden terror, as the little creature became aware of a pressure from without Another favourite haunt of mine was the orchard, where the fruit ripened early in July. —  Story of My Life
  • But now was when the Motorola prototype had been ripe for the plucking, and the militias had lucked out as regards the weather. —  F ;SF; - vol 096 issue 01 - January 1999
  • Rose Reynolds was the picture of innocence ripe for the plucking, demurely avoiding his gaze as was right and proper. —  SexyBeastIV
  • Once we become accustomed ... so they think ... to the new sheriff in town, we'll be ripe for the plucking. —  Shooting The Messenger
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