pluck up


Also found in: Idioms.
Related to pluck up: braveness

pluck up

vb (tr, adverb)
1. to pull out; uproot
2. to muster (courage, one's spirits, etc)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in periodicals archive ?
y I'd ving ough I was "I said OK, although really nervous the first time, stood outside waiting thinking 'oh God, what happens if we've got nothing to say to each other?' But we just hit it off naturally straight away, we liked the same things and it was really nice, although I wouldn't let him drop me at first because I if my mum saw a dropping me off I'd never hear the end of offat home thought boy d nev it!" ht " Matt, 38, admits he had been trying to pluck up the courage to ask Cara out but he was quite shy and wasn't sure what her reply wouldco sh wha be.
"When I was in high school, I worked at a game preserve and would pluck up to 100 ducks a night.
I can't pluck up courage to go and I don't have the nervous energy to stay.