pull

When I give the signal, pull the rope.

You're going to have to pull harder to get that cork out of the bottle.

He put forth his hand […] and pulled her in.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 8:9:

Ne'er pull your hat upon your brows.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

(transitive, intransitive) To apply a force to (an object) so that it comes toward the person or thing applying the force.

to pull fruit from a tree

pull flax

pull a finch

He and some of his companions one day entered a garden in the suburbs, and having indulged their appetites, desired to know what satisfaction they must make for the fruit they had pulled.

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

To gather with the hand, or by drawing toward oneself; to pluck or pick (flowers, fruit, etc.).

Television, a favored source of news and information, pulls the largest share of advertising monies.

2002, Marcella Ridlen Ray, Changing and Unchanging Face of United States Civil Society:

While the pimp can always pull a ho with his magnetism, he can never pull a nun. The nun is too in touch with her own compassionate and honest spirit to react to a spirit as negative and deceitful as that of the pimp.

2011, Russell Simmons, Chris Morrow, Super Rich: A Guide to Having It All:

(transitive) To attract or net; to pull in.

I pulled at the club last night.

He's pulled that bird over there.

(transitive, intransitive, UK, Ireland, slang) To persuade (someone) to have sex with one.

To persuade (someone) to have sex with one.

Each day, they pulled the old bread and set out fresh loaves.

The book was due to be released today, but it was pulled at the last minute over legal concerns.

(transitive) To remove or withdraw (something), especially from public circulation or availability.

I'll have to pull a part number for that.

This computer file is incorrect. Can we pull the old version from your backups?

They'll go through their computer system and pull a report of all your order fulfillment records for the time period you specify.

2006, Michael Bellomo, Joel Elad, How to Sell Anything on Amazon...and Make a Fortune!:

(transitive) To retrieve or look up for use.

It's the contractor's responsibility to pull the necessary permits before starting work.

(construction) To obtain (a permit) from a regulatory authority.

To obtain (a permit) from a regulatory authority.

He regularly pulls 12-hour days, sometimes 14.

You'll be sent home if you pull another stunt like that.

What are you trying to pull?

What are you trying to pull, anyway? You say you want to sell, but you have nothing to offer?! You've got some nerve, kid!

1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:

Faced with an enemy whose largest gun turrets weigh more than the entire ship, Johnston decides that running is boring, and instead pulls a full 180-degree turn and charges straight back at the attacking forces.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 16:22 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:

(transitive, informal) To do or perform, especially something seen as negative by the speaker.

He pulled an Elvis and got really fat.

They're trying to pull a Watergate on us.

To copy or emulate the actions or behaviour associated with the person or thing mentioned (with a and the name of a person, place, event, etc.).

To toss a frisbee with the intention of launching the disc across the length of a field.

It had been a sort of race hitherto, and the rowers, with set teeth and compressed lips, had pulled stroke for stroke.

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Chapter VI:

I pulled a personal best on the erg yesterday.

(transitive, rowing) To achieve by rowing on a rowing machine.

To achieve by rowing on a rowing machine.

He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Lamentations 3:11:

If you are going to pull or chop the pork butt, take it out of the smoker when the meat is in the higher temperature range, put it in a large pan, and let it rest, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes. Using heavy-duty dinner forks, pull the pork butt to shreds.

2009, Ardie A. Davis, Chef Paul Kirk, America's Best BBQ, page 57:

(transitive) To strain (a muscle, tendon, ligament, etc.).

To strain (a muscle, tendon, ligament, etc.).

…we had to clear a long hallway, run up half way, pull the boss mob to us, and engage.

2003 April 9, Richard Lawson, “Monual's Willful Ignorance”, in alt.games.everquest (Usenet):

Basically buff pet, have it pull lots of mobs, shield pet, chain heal pet, have your aoe casters finish off hurt mobs once pet gets good aggro.

2004 October 18, Stush, “Re: focus pull”, in alt.games.dark-age-of-camelot (Usenet):

This is the only thing that should get you to break off from your position, is to pull something off the healer.

2005 August 2, Brian, “Re: How to tank Stratholme undead pulls?”, in alt.games.warcraft (Usenet):

You could also set a fire trap, pull the mob toward it, then send in your pet….

2007 April 10, John Salerno, “Re: Managing the Command Buttons”, in alt.games.warcraft (Usenet):

Shield yourself, pull with Mind Blast if you want, or merely pull with SW:P to save mana, then wand, fear if you need to, but use the lowest rank fear.

2008 August 18, Mark (newsgroups), “Re: I'm a priest now!”, in alt.games.warcraft (Usenet):

non-player character
non-player character

(video games, transitive, intransitive) To draw (a hostile non-player character) into combat, or toward or away from some location or target.

How many points did you pull today, Albert?

(UK) To score a certain number of points in a sport.

To score a certain number of points in a sport.

The favourite was pulled.

(horse-racing) To hold back, and so prevent from winning.

To hold back, and so prevent from winning.

(printing, dated) To take or make (a proof or impression); so called because hand presses were worked by pulling a lever.

Never pull a straight fast ball to leg.

1888, Robert Henry Lyttelton, Cricket, Chapter 2:

(cricket, golf) To strike the ball in a particular manner. (See noun sense.)

To strike the ball in a particular manner. (See noun sense.)

Let's stop at Finnigan's. The barman pulls a good pint.

(UK) To draw beer from a pump, keg, or other source.

To draw beer from a pump, keg, or other source.

Danny pulled at his beer and thought for a moment.

1957, Air Force Magazine, volume 40, page 128:

(intransitive) To take a swig or mouthful of drink.

(rail transportation, US) Of a railroad car, to pull out from a yard or station; to leave.

Of a railroad car, to pull out from a yard or station; to leave.

Pull around to the window please.

He pulled the car forward until he was out of the way.

(transitive, intransitive) (Followed by a preposition or adverb) To drive (a vehicle) in a particular direction or to a particular place.

The state trooper pulled me for going 60 in a 55 zone.

(transitive, law enforcement) To pull over (a driver or vehicle); to detain for a traffic stop.

To pull over (a driver or vehicle); to detain for a traffic stop.

(cooking, transitive, intransitive) To repeatedly stretch taffy in order to achieve the desired stretchy texture.

(computing) To retrieve source code or other material from a source control repository.

(martial arts) In practice fighting, to reduce the strength of a blow (etymology 3) so as to avoid injuring one's practice partner.

'I never liked Bowler, and I had my suspicions when Captain Ferndale persuaded you to put him up in that race. I did not discover until some time after that he pulled the horse.'

1897, Nat Gould, Not So Bad After All, page 200:

(horse racing, transitive) To impede the progress of (a horse) to prevent its winning a race.

To impede the progress of (a horse) to prevent its winning a race.

en-verb

pull (third-person singular simple present pulls, present participle pulling, simple past and past participle pulled)

pulls (present singular third-person)
pulling (participle present)
pulled (participle past)
pulled (past)

drag

apply force to (something) so it comes toward

score

to succeed in finding a person with whom to have sex.

push

antonym(s) of “apply force to (something) so it comes towards one”

it's not the whistle that pulls the train

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

tërheq

transitive: apply force to (something) so it comes towards one

քաշել

intransitive: apply force such that an object comes toward the person or thing applying the force

ҡаймыҡтырыу

to strain a muscle or ligament or tendon

lligar

slang: persuade (a person) to have sex with one

saada

succeed in finding a person with whom to have sex

-ʊl (accents with foot–goose merger or full–fool merger)

Verb from Middle English pullen, from Old English pullian (“to pull, draw, tug, pluck off”), of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to West Frisian pûlje (“to shell, husk”), Middle Dutch pullen (“to drink”), Middle Dutch polen (“to peel, strip”), Low German pulen (“to pick, pluck, pull, tear, strip off husks”), Icelandic púla (“to work hard, beat”).
Noun from Middle English pul, pull, pulle, from the verb pullen (“to pull”).

inh

Old English pullian (“to pull, draw, tug, pluck off”)

cog

to pick, pluck, pull, tear, strip off husks

Low German pulen (“to pick, pluck, pull, tear, strip off husks”)


pull

(gun sports) Command used by a target shooter to request that the target be released/launched.


pull

He gave the hair a sharp pull and it came out.

She took several pulls on her cigarette.

I found myself suddenly awaked with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):

(countable) An act of pulling (applying force toward oneself).

The spaceship came under the pull of the gas giant.

iron fillings drawn by the pull of a magnet

(uncountable) An attractive force which causes motion towards the source.

The hypnotist exerted a pull over his patients.

Tresham's up to his eyes in dock business and town business, a regular jobmonger, he has no use for anybody who hasn't a pull.

1944, Henry Christopher Bailey, The Queen of Spades, page 72:

(uncountable, figurative) An advantage over somebody; a means of influencing.

I don't have a lot of pull within the company.

She wants to work in the villages, and she has a lot of pull with some ministers and there she is, like a political supervisor.

2016, Antoinette Burton, quoting Shukdev Sharma, Africa in the Indian Imagination, Duke University Press, →ISBN:

I have already put Matthew Williams off for a few days. He wants to see her too, but he doesn't have pull with the director.

2017, Maggie Blake, Her Haunted Past, Book Venture Publishing LLC, →ISBN, page 126:

If Netflix truly cared about those of us sequestered to our homes, with our shelves of beans and bad-news-addled brains, it would release either a new season of Queer Eye or another season of the similarly soothing Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat to help us bide our time. Alas, I have no pull at Netflix, and neither seems to be coming soon.

2020 March 27, Bettina Makalintal, “Samin Nosrat's 'Home Cooking' Podcast Will Make Your Quarantine Cooking Better”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2022-12-06:

(uncountable, figurative, informal) The power to influence someone or something; sway, clout.

a zipper pull

(countable) Any device meant to be pulled, as a lever, knob, handle, or rope.

mythical FYP pull

(countable, figurative) A randomized selection from a given set.

(Internet slang) A high-quality or funny recommendation by the algorithm.

(gacha games) A player's use of a game's gacha mechanic to obtain a random reward.

card pull

In weights the favourite had the pull.

(figurative, slang, dated) Something in one's favour in a comparison or a contest; advantage.

the pull of a movie star

(uncountable, figurative) Appeal or attraction.

server pull

pull technology

(Internet) The act or process of sending out a request for data from a server by a client.

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V
As Blunt had said, the burning ship lay a good twelve miles from the Malabar, and the pull was a long and a weary one. Once fairly away from the protecting sides of the vessel that had borne them thus far on their dismal journey, the adventurers seemed to have come into a new atmosphere.

a wrestling pull

this wrastling pull betweene Corineus and Gogmagog, is reported to have befallen at Douer.

1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall. […], new edition, London: […] B. Law, […]; Penzance, Cornwall: J. Hewett, published 1769, →OCLC:

They used steroids to build strength but, more importantly, to recover from strains, pulls, dislocations.

2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 162:

(countable) An injury resulting from a forceful pull on a limb, etc.; strain; sprain.

Two pulls at once; / His lady banished, and a limb lopped off.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

(obsolete, poetic) Loss, misfortune, or violence suffered.

Heah, Sam Johnsing, jis' take a pull at dis bottle, an' it will make yo' feel better.

1882, H. Elliott McBride, Well Fixed for a Rainy Day:

Sutho took a pull at his Johnny Walker and Coke and laughed that trademark laugh of his and said: `Okay. I'll pay that all right.'

1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 294:

(countable, colloquial) A drink, especially of an alcoholic beverage; a mouthful or swig of a drink.

The pull is not a legitimate stroke, but bad cricket.

1887, R. A. Proctor, Longman's Magazine:

(cricket) A type of stroke by which a leg ball is sent to the off side, or an off ball to the on side; a pull shot.

(golf) A mishit shot which travels in a straight line and (for a right-handed player) left of the intended path.

(printing, historical) A single impression from a handpress.

en-noun

pull (countable and uncountable, plural pulls)

button

antonym(s) of “device meant to be pulled”

have the world by the tail on a downhill pull

pull

internet: situation where a client sends out a request for data