See pull out all the stops in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "An allusion to organ stops, which are pulled out to turn on each set of sounds in a pipe organ. When all stops are pulled out, the organ will play all variations of its sounds at once, therefore being as loud as possible.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "pulls out all the stops",
"tags": [
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"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
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},
{
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]
},
{
"form": "pulled out all the stops",
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]
},
{
"form": "pull out all stops",
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}
],
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},
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"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
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5,
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"type": "example"
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[
59,
81
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],
"ref": "[1889], George Clarke, “The Love Life Natural”, in Bible Talks, London: Marshall Brothers, […]; Glasgow; Edinburgh: Menzies & Co., →OCLC, page 52:",
"text": "To be a Christian is to be complete in all one's parts: to pull out all the stops of one's nature, and live the Christ life, so that people may say, He lives; and yet no longer he, but Christ lives in him.",
"type": "quotation"
},
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"ref": "1961 May, Ted White, “Record Reviews [Max Roach: We Insist!]”, in David Solomon, editor, Metronome, volume 78, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Metronome Corporation, →OCLC, page 35, column 1:",
"text": "[T]he entire record is a form of catharsis for its performers. One track is specifically that: the Protest section of Triptych, which Abbey Lincoln pulls out all the stops, and in a fiery release of inhibitions, screams a hair-raising Protest against all those things which a Negro must ordinarily experience in silence.",
"type": "quotation"
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75,
100
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"ref": "1973, Timothy Crouse, “The Last Days”, in The Boys on the Bus, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 1980, →ISBN, part 3 (Covering McGovern’s Campaign), page 376:",
"text": "[George] McGovern, too, was pushing himself to the limits of his strength, pulling out all the stops on Vietnam and the Watergate affair, but through the haze of exhaustion all of his speeches sounded like one long echo of the same speech.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
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59,
80
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],
"ref": "1986 August 23, Warren Blumenfeld, “Community Voices: Liberty’s Dimmed Lamp”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 6, Boston, Mass.: The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:",
"text": "It is curious that in the very same week as the country is pulling out all stops to celebrate one of its most cherished symbols to freedom and opportunity, it has at the same time further plugged up basic human rights of privacy for those who do not define themselves as heterosexual.",
"type": "quotation"
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139,
163
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"ref": "2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University Challenge”, in Rail, number 1001, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 61:",
"text": "Despite missing the target to open for the Commonwealth Games, work on site hasn't slowed down. VolkerFitzpatrick and its contractors have pulled out all the stops to get the job done.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
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"To hold back or reserve nothing."
],
"id": "en-pull_out_all_the_stops-en-verb-rJpdT3dV",
"links": [
[
"hold back",
"hold back"
],
[
"reserve",
"reserve#Verb"
],
[
"nothing",
"nothing#Pronoun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To hold back or reserve nothing."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "no holds barred"
},
{
"word": "take off one's gloves"
},
{
"word": "gloves are off"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "empty the tank"
},
{
"word": "give one's all"
},
{
"word": "go all out"
},
{
"word": "go balls to the wall"
},
{
"word": "go the whole nine yards"
},
{
"word": "go up to eleven"
},
{
"word": "open the floodgates"
}
],
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],
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{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"lang_code": "nl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "alle registers opentrekken"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "poistaa esteet"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "tehdä kaikkensa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "faire l'impossible"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"note": "with respect to a meal",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "mettre les petits plats dans les grands"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "alle Register ziehen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "fare l'impossibile"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "dawać z siebie wszystko"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "dać z siebie wszystko"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nie powstrzymywać się"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "nie powstrzymać się"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "fazer o impossível"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "asestar toda la artillería"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"dated"
],
"word": "estirar la barra"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "hacer los imposibles"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "poner toda la artillería"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "poner toda la carne en el asador"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "tirar la barra"
}
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}
],
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{
"ipa": "/ˈpʊl‿aʊt‿ɔːl ðə ˈstɒps/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈpʊl‿aʊt‿ɔl ðə ˈstɑps/",
"note": "without the cot–caught merger"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈpʊl‿aʊt‿ɑl ðə ˈstɑps/",
"tags": [
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},
{
"rhymes": "-ɒps"
}
],
"word": "pull out all the stops"
}
{
"etymology_text": "An allusion to organ stops, which are pulled out to turn on each set of sounds in a pipe organ. When all stops are pulled out, the organ will play all variations of its sounds at once, therefore being as loud as possible.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "pulls out all the stops",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "pulling out all the stops",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "pulled out all the stops",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "pulled out all the stops",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "pull out all stops",
"tags": [
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]
}
],
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"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "no holds barred"
},
{
"word": "take off one's gloves"
},
{
"word": "gloves are off"
}
],
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"English verbs",
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"Rhymes:English/ɒps",
"Rhymes:English/ɒps/5 syllables",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations"
],
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29
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{
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[
59,
81
]
],
"ref": "[1889], George Clarke, “The Love Life Natural”, in Bible Talks, London: Marshall Brothers, […]; Glasgow; Edinburgh: Menzies & Co., →OCLC, page 52:",
"text": "To be a Christian is to be complete in all one's parts: to pull out all the stops of one's nature, and live the Christ life, so that people may say, He lives; and yet no longer he, but Christ lives in him.",
"type": "quotation"
},
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171
]
],
"ref": "1961 May, Ted White, “Record Reviews [Max Roach: We Insist!]”, in David Solomon, editor, Metronome, volume 78, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Metronome Corporation, →OCLC, page 35, column 1:",
"text": "[T]he entire record is a form of catharsis for its performers. One track is specifically that: the Protest section of Triptych, which Abbey Lincoln pulls out all the stops, and in a fiery release of inhibitions, screams a hair-raising Protest against all those things which a Negro must ordinarily experience in silence.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
75,
100
]
],
"ref": "1973, Timothy Crouse, “The Last Days”, in The Boys on the Bus, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 1980, →ISBN, part 3 (Covering McGovern’s Campaign), page 376:",
"text": "[George] McGovern, too, was pushing himself to the limits of his strength, pulling out all the stops on Vietnam and the Watergate affair, but through the haze of exhaustion all of his speeches sounded like one long echo of the same speech.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
59,
80
]
],
"ref": "1986 August 23, Warren Blumenfeld, “Community Voices: Liberty’s Dimmed Lamp”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 6, Boston, Mass.: The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:",
"text": "It is curious that in the very same week as the country is pulling out all stops to celebrate one of its most cherished symbols to freedom and opportunity, it has at the same time further plugged up basic human rights of privacy for those who do not define themselves as heterosexual.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
139,
163
]
],
"ref": "2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University Challenge”, in Rail, number 1001, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 61:",
"text": "Despite missing the target to open for the Commonwealth Games, work on site hasn't slowed down. VolkerFitzpatrick and its contractors have pulled out all the stops to get the job done.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To hold back or reserve nothing."
],
"links": [
[
"hold back",
"hold back"
],
[
"reserve",
"reserve#Verb"
],
[
"nothing",
"nothing#Pronoun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To hold back or reserve nothing."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "empty the tank"
},
{
"word": "give one's all"
},
{
"word": "go all out"
},
{
"word": "go balls to the wall"
},
{
"word": "go the whole nine yards"
},
{
"word": "go up to eleven"
},
{
"word": "open the floodgates"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
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"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈpʊl‿aʊt‿ɔl ðə ˈstɑps/",
"note": "without the cot–caught merger"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈpʊl‿aʊt‿ɑl ðə ˈstɑps/",
"tags": [
"cot-caught-merger"
]
},
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{
"rhymes": "-ɒps"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"lang_code": "nl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "alle registers opentrekken"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "poistaa esteet"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "tehdä kaikkensa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "faire l'impossible"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"note": "with respect to a meal",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "mettre les petits plats dans les grands"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "alle Register ziehen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "fare l'impossibile"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "dawać z siebie wszystko"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "dać z siebie wszystko"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nie powstrzymywać się"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "nie powstrzymać się"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "fazer o impossível"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "asestar toda la artillería"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"tags": [
"dated"
],
"word": "estirar la barra"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "hacer los imposibles"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "poner toda la artillería"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "poner toda la carne en el asador"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "to hold back or reserve nothing",
"word": "tirar la barra"
}
],
"word": "pull out all the stops"
}
Download raw JSONL data for pull out all the stops meaning in English (8.5kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-29 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-20 using wiktextract (cdfa371 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.