plucking

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of pluck

noun

1. (countable, gerund, uncountable)An act in which something is plucked.

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

2. (countable, uncountable)A fragment of something obtained by plucking.

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

3. (countable, uncountable)The undesirable situation in which printed ink becomes detached from the paper.

   “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, […]”