pull

pull¹ W1S1 [pul] v

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1¦(move something towards you)¦

2¦(remove)¦

3¦(make something follow you)¦

4¦(take something out)¦

5¦(clothing)¦

6¦(move your body)¦

7¦(muscle)¦

8 pull strings

9 pull the/somebody's strings

10¦(trick/crime)¦

11 pull somebody's leg

12 pull the other one (it's got bells on)

13¦(switch)¦

14 pull the curtains/blinds

15¦(crowd/votes etc)¦

16¦(attract/influence)¦

17¦(sexually attract)¦

18¦(stop event)¦

19 pull somebody's licence

20¦(stop a vehicle)¦

21¦(car)¦

22 something is like pulling teeth

23¦(beer)¦

24 pull a punch

25¦(cricket/golf/baseball)¦

26¦(row a boat)¦

Phrasal verbs

　pull ahead

　pull apart

　pull at/on something

　pull away

　pull back

　pull down

　pull for somebody/something

　pull in

　pull off

　pull on something

　pull out

　pull over

　pull (somebody) through

　pull together

　pull up

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[: Old English; Origin: pullian]

1.) ¦(MOVE SOMETHING TOWARDS YOU)¦ [I and T]

to use your hands to make something or someone move towards you or in the direction that your hands are moving

≠ ↑push

▪ Mom! Davey's pulling my hair!

pull sb/sth into/away from/over etc sth

▪ He pulled her down into her seat.

pull sth open/shut

▪ She pulled open the door and hurried inside.

2.) ¦(REMOVE)¦ [T]

to use force to take something from the place where it is fixed or held

▪ She has to have two teeth pulled.

pull sth out/off/away etc

▪ Vicky had pulled the arm off her doll.

3.) ¦(MAKE SOMETHING FOLLOW YOU)¦ [T]

to be attached to something or hold something and make it move behind you in the direction you are going

▪ a tractor pulling a trailer

4.) ¦(TAKE SOMETHING OUT)¦ [T always + adverb/preposition]

to take something out of a bag, pocket etc with your hand

▪ He pulled out his wallet and said 'let me pay'.

▪ Ben pulled a pen from his pocket.

pull a gun/knife (on sb)

(=take one out, ready to use it)

5.) ¦(CLOTHING)¦ [T always + adverb/preposition]

to put on or take off a piece of clothing, usually quickly

pull on/off/up/down etc

▪ He pulled off his damp shirt.

6.) ¦(MOVE YOUR BODY)¦

a) [I,T always + adverb/preposition]

to move your body or part of your body away from someone or something

pull sth away/free

▪ She tried to pull her hand free, but it was held fast.

pull sth out of/from sth

▪ She struggled fiercely, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp.

pull away/back

▪ She pulled away from him.

b) pull yourself up/to your feet etc

to hold onto something and use your strength to move your body towards it

▪ Benny pulled himself up from the floor with difficulty.

7.) ¦(MUSCLE)¦ [T]

to injure one of your muscles by stretching it too much during physical activity

= ↑strain

▪ Paul pulled a muscle trying to lift the freezer.

8.) pull strings

to secretly use your influence with important people in order to get what you want or to help someone else

▪ Francis pulled strings to get him out of trouble.

9.) pull the/sb's strings

to control something or someone, especially when you are not the person who is supposed to be controlling them

▪ It was widely believed that Montagu was secretly pulling the strings behind the prime minister.

10.)¦(TRICK/CRIME)¦ [T] informal

to succeed in doing something illegal or dishonest or in playing a trick on someone

▪ The gang have pulled another bank robbery.

▪ He was trying to pull a fast one (=deceive you) when he told you he'd paid.

pull a stunt/trick/joke

▪ Don't you ever pull a stunt like that again!

11.) pull sb's leg

to tell someone something that is not true, as a joke

▪ I haven't won, have I? You're pulling my leg.

12.) pull the other one (it's got bells on)

BrE spoken used to tell someone that you think they are joking or not telling the truth

▪ Your dad's a racing driver? Pull the other one!

13.) ¦(SWITCH)¦ [T]

to move a control such as a switch, ↑lever, or ↑trigger towards you to make a piece of equipment work

▪ She raised the gun, and pulled the trigger.

14.) pull the curtains/blinds

to open or close curtains or ↑blinds

▪ It was already getting dark so he pulled the curtains.

15.) ¦(CROWD/VOTES ETC)¦ [T]

if an event, performer etc pulls crowds or a politician pulls a lot of votes, a lot of people come to see them or vote for them

▪ Muhammad Ali can still pull the crowds.

16.) ¦(ATTRACT/INFLUENCE)¦ [T]

to attract or influence someone or their thoughts or feelings

▪ The city's reputation for a clean environment has pulled new residents from other states.

17.) ¦(SEXUALLY ATTRACT)¦ [I and T]

BrE spoken to attract someone in order to have sex with them or spend the evening with them

▪ He knew he could pull any girl he wanted.

18.) ¦(STOP EVENT)¦ [T]

to stop a planned event from taking place

▪ They pulled the concert.

19.) pull sb's licence informal

to take away someone's ↑licence to do something, especially to drive a car, because they have done something wrong

20.)¦(STOP A VEHICLE)¦ [I and T]

to drive a vehicle somewhere and stop; to stop somewhere

pull sth into/towards/down etc sth

▪ She pulled the car into a side street.

▪ The bus pulled to a halt .

21.) ¦(CAR)¦

if a car pulls to the left or right as you are driving, it moves in that direction because of a problem with its machinery

22.) sth is like pulling teeth

used to say that it is very difficult or unpleasant to persuade someone to do something

▪ Getting him to do his homework is like pulling teeth.

23.) ¦(BEER)¦ [T]

[i]BrE to get beer out of a ↑barrel by pulling a handle

▪ The barman laughed and began to pull a couple of pints.

24.) pull a punch

to deliberately hit someone with less force than you could do, so that it hurts less

→not pull any punches at ↑punch² (6)

25.) ¦(CRICKET/GOLF/BASEBALL)¦ [I and T]

to hit the ball in ↑cricket, golf, or baseball so that it does not go straight but moves to one side

26.) ¦(ROW A BOAT)¦ [I and T]

to make a boat move by using ↑oars

→pull/make a face at ↑face¹ (2), pull your finger out at ↑finger¹ (12), pull rank (on sb) at ↑rank¹ (5), pull the rug (out) from under sb's feet at ↑rug, pull the plug (on sth) at ↑plug¹ (5)

→pull your socks up at ↑sock¹ (3)

→pull your weight at ↑weight¹ (12)

→pull the wool over sb's eyes at ↑wool

pull ahead phr v

if one vehicle pulls ahead of another, it gets in front of it by moving faster

▪ Schumacher pulled ahead of Montoya as the two drivers approached the first corner of the race.

pull apart phr v

1.) pull sth<=>apart

to separate something into pieces

▪ Pull the meat apart with two forks.

2.) pull sb<=>apart

to make the relationships between people in a group bad or difficult

▪ His drinking pulled the family apart.

3.) pull sth<=>apart

to carefully examine or criticize something

▪ The selection committee pulled each proposal apart.

4.) pull sb/sth<=>apart

to separate people or animals when they are fighting

▪ The fight ended only when the referee pulled the two players apart.

5.) if something pulls apart, it breaks into pieces when you pull on it

pull at/on [pull at/on sth] phr v

1.) to take hold of something and pull it several times

▪ Mary was pulling nervously at her hair.

2.) to take smoke from a pipe or cigarette into your lungs

▪ He pulled hard on the cigarette.

3.) to take a long drink from a bottle or glass

pull away phr v

1.) to start to drive away from a place where you had stopped

▪ He waved as he pulled away.

2.) to move ahead of a competitor by going faster or being more successful

pull away from

▪ Nkoku is pulling away from the other runners.

pull back phr v

1.) to decide not to do or become involved in something

pull back from

▪ In the end, he pulled back from financing the film.

2.) to get out of a bad situation or dangerous place, or to make someone else do this

pull back from

▪ Many banks are pulling back from international markets.

pull sb<=>back

▪ They are preparing to pull back their forces.

3.) pull sth<=>back

BrE if a team that is losing pulls back a ↑goal or some points, it succeeds in scoring a goal or some points

▪ Our play improved and we pulled back two goals.

pull down phr v

1.) pull sth<=>down

to destroy something or make it stop existing

▪ My old school was pulled down.

2.) pull down sth

to earn a particular amount of money

▪ Real estate stocks pulled down total returns of 35.7 percent.

3.) pull sb down

to make someone less successful, happy, or healthy

▪ Her problems have really pulled her down.

4.) pull down a menu

to make a computer program show you a list of the things it can do

pull for / [pull for sb/sth] phr v

informal to encourage a person or team to succeed

▪ The crowd were pulling for me to do well.

pull in phr v

1.) if a driver pulls in, they move to the side of the road and stop

▪ She pulled in to let the ambulance pass.

2.) if a train pulls in, it arrives at a station

≠ ↑pull out

3.) pull sb/sth<=>in

to attract business, money, people etc

▪ a publicity stunt to pull in the crowds

4.) pull in sth informal

if you pull in a lot of money, you earn it

5.) pull sb<=>in

if a police officer pulls someone in, they take them to a police station because they think that person may have done something wrong

pull off phr v

1.) pull sth<=>off informal

to succeed in doing something difficult

▪ The goalkeeper pulled off six terrific saves.

2.) pull off (sth)

to drive a car off a road in order to stop, or to turn into a smaller road

▪ We pulled off the road to get some food.

pull on [pull on sth] phr v

to pull at something

pull out phr v

1.)

a) to drive onto a road from another road or from where you have stopped

▪ Don't pull out! There's something coming.

b) to drive over to a different part of the road in order to get past a vehicle in front of you

▪ I pulled out to overtake a bus.

2.) if a train pulls out, it leaves a station

≠ ↑pull in

3.) to stop doing or being involved in something, or to make someone do this

▪ McDermott pulled out with an injury at the last minute.

pull out of

▪ They are trying to pull out of the agreement.

pull sb out of sth

▪ He threatened to pull his son out of the team.

4.) to get out of a bad situation or dangerous place, or to make someone or something do this

▪ Jim saw that the firm was going to be ruined, so he pulled out.

pull sb/sth<=>out

▪ Most of the troops have been pulled out.

pull out of

▪ when the country was still pulling out of a recession

→pull out all the stops at ↑stop² (7)

pull over phr v

to drive to the side of the road and stop your car, or to make someone else do this

▪ The policeman signalled to him to pull over.

pull sb/sth<=>over

▪ He pulled the car over.

▪ A cop pulled him over and gave him a speeding ticket.

pull () through [pull (sb) through] phr v

1.) to stay alive after you have been very ill or badly injured, or to help someone do this

▪ His injuries are severe but he's expected to pull through.

→bring (sb) through at ↑bring

2.) to succeed in doing something very difficult, or to help someone to do this

▪ He relied on his experience to pull him through.

pull together phr v

1.) if a group of people pull together, they all work hard to achieve something

▪ If we all pull together, we'll finish on time.

2.) pull yourself together

to force yourself to stop behaving in a nervous, frightened, or uncontrolled way

▪ With an effort Mary pulled herself together.

3.) pull sth together

to improve something by organizing it more effectively

▪ We need an experienced manager to pull the department together.

pull up phr v

1.) to stop the vehicle that you are driving

▪ He pulled up in front of the gates.

2.) pull up a chair/stool etc

to get a chair, etc and sit down next to someone who is already sitting

3.) pull sb up

especially BrE to stop someone who is doing something wrong and tell them you do not approve

pull somebody up on

▪ I felt I had to pull her up on her lateness.

→pull sb up short at ↑short² (7)

pull ²

pull² n

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1¦(act of moving something)¦

2¦(force)¦

3¦(attraction)¦

4¦(influence)¦

5¦(climb)¦

6¦(muscle)¦

7¦(smoke/drink)¦

8¦(handle)¦

9¦(cricket/golf/baseball)¦

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1.) ¦(ACT OF MOVING SOMETHING)¦

an act of using force to move something towards you or in the same direction that you are moving

≠ ↑push

▪ He gave her a sharp pull forward.

2.) ¦(FORCE)¦ [C usually singular]

a strong physical force that makes things move in a particular direction

▪ the gravitational pull of the moon

3.) ¦(ATTRACTION)¦ [C usually singular]

the ability to attract someone or have a powerful effect on them

pull of

▪ After about a year I gave in to the pull of fatherhood.

4.) ¦(INFLUENCE)¦ [singular,U] informal

special influence or power over other people

▪ His family's name gives him a lot of pull in this town.

5.) ¦(CLIMB)¦ [singular]

BrE a difficult climb up a steep road

▪ It was a long pull up the hill.

6.) ¦(MUSCLE)¦ [C usually singular]

an injury to one of your muscles, caused by stretching it too much during exercise

▪ a groin pull

7.) ¦(SMOKE/DRINK)¦

an act of taking the smoke from a cigarette, pipe etc into your ↑lungs or of taking a long drink of something

pull on/at

▪ She took a long pull on her cigarette.

8.) ¦(HANDLE)¦

a rope or handle that you use to pull something

▪ He popped the ring pull on another can of lager.

9.) ¦(CRICKET/GOLF/BASEBALL)¦

a way of hitting the ball in ↑cricket, golf, or baseball so that it does not go straight, but moves to one side