Etimology
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”).
verb
pull (third-person singular simple present pulls, present participle pulling, simple past and past participle pulled)
(transitive, intransitive) To apply a force to (an object) so that it comes toward the person or thing applying the force.
To gather with the hand, or by drawing toward oneself; to pluck.
(transitive) To attract or net; to pull in.
(transitive, intransitive, UK, Ireland, slang) To persuade (someone) to have sex with one.
(transitive) To remove (something), especially from public circulation or availability.
(transitive) To retrieve or generate for use.
(construction) To obtain (a permit) from a regulatory authority.
(transitive, informal) To do or perform, especially something seen as negative by the speaker.
(with 'a' and the name of a person, place, event, etc.) To copy or emulate the actions or behaviour that is associated with the person or thing mentioned.
To toss a frisbee with the intention of launching the disc across the length of a field.
(intransitive) To row.
(transitive, rowing) To achieve by rowing on a rowing machine.
To draw apart; to tear; to rend.
(transitive) To strain (a muscle, tendon, ligament, etc.).
(video games, transitive, intransitive) To draw (a hostile non-player character) into combat, or toward or away from some location or target.
(UK) To score a certain number of points in a sport.
(horse-racing) 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.
(cricket, golf) To strike the ball in a particular manner. (See noun sense.)
(UK) To draw beer from a pump, keg, or other source.
(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.
(now chiefly Scotland, England and US regional) To pluck or pick (flowers, fruit etc.).
(cooking, transitive, intransitive) To repeatedly stretch taffy in order to achieve the desired stretchy texture.
(computing) To get the latest version of a project's source code
(martial arts) In practice fighting, to reduce the strength of a blow (etymology 3) so as to avoid injuring one's practice partner.
(horse racing, transitive) To impede the progress of (a horse) to prevent its winning a race.
Examples
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.
Ne'er pull your hat upon your brows.
to pull fruit from a tree
pull flax
pull a finch
Television, a favored source of news and information, pulls the largest share of advertising monies.
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.
I pulled at the club last night.
He's pulled that bird over there.
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.
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.
It's the contractor's responsibility to pull the necessary permits before starting work.
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!
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.
He pulled an Elvis and got really fat.
They're trying to pull a Watergate on us.
It had been a sort of race hitherto, and the rowers, with set teeth and compressed lips, had pulled stroke for stroke.
I pulled a personal best on the erg yesterday.
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
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.
…we had to clear a long hallway, run up half way, pull the boss mob to us, and engage.
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.
This is the only thing that should get you to break off from your position, is to pull something off the healer.
You could also set a fire trap, pull the mob toward it, then send in your pet….
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.
How many points did you pull today, Albert?
The favourite was pulled.
Never pull a straight fast ball to leg.
Let's stop at Finnigan's. The barman pulls a good pint.
Danny pulled at his beer and thought for a moment.
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.
'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.'
Related words
synonyms
(apply force to (something) so it comes toward): drag, tow, tug, yank
(slang: to persuade to have sex with one): score
(to remove from circulation): recall, withdraw, yank
(to do, to perform): carry out, complete, do, execute, perform
(to retrieve or generate for use): generate, get, get hold of, get one's hands on, lay one's hands on, obtain, retrieve
(to succeed in finding a person with whom to have sex.): score
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "apply force to (something) so it comes towards one"): push, repel, shove
hyponyms
pull a face
pull a fast one
pull ahead
pull away
pull back
pull down
pull for
pull in
pull off
pull out
pull over
pull rank
pull round
pull through
pull together
pull up
interjection
pull
(gun sports) Command used by a target shooter to request that the target be released/launched.
noun
pull (countable and uncountable, plural pulls)
An act of pulling (applying force toward oneself).
An attractive force which causes motion towards the source.
(figurative, by extension) An advantage over somebody; a means of influencing.
(uncountable, informal) The power to influence someone or something; sway, clout.
Any device meant to be pulled, as a lever, knob, handle, or rope.
(slang, dated) Something in one's favour in a comparison or a contest.
Appeal or attraction (e.g. of a movie star).
(Internet, uncountable) The situation where a client sends out a request for data from a server, as in server pull, pull technology
A journey made by rowing.
(dated) A contest; a struggle.
An injury resulting from a forceful pull on a limb, etc.; a strain.
(obsolete, poetic) Loss or violence suffered.
(colloquial) The act of drinking; a mouthful or swig of a drink.
(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.
(printing) A proof sheet.
Examples
He gave the hair a sharp pull and it came out.
I found myself suddenly awaked with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box.
The spaceship came under the pull of the gas giant.
iron fillings drawn by the pull of a magnet
She took a pull on her cigarette.
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.
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.
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.
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.
a zipper pull
In weights the favourite had the pull.
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.
They used steroids to build strength but, more importantly, to recover from strains, pulls, dislocations.
Two pulls at once; / His lady banished, and a limb lopped off.
Heah , Sam Johnsing , jis' take a pull at dis bottle, an' it will make yo' feel better .
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.'
The pull is not a legitimate stroke, but bad cricket.
Related words
synonyms
(act of pulling): tug, yank
(attractive force): attraction
(device meant to be pulled): handle, knob, lever, rope
(influence): influence, sway
(a puff on a cigarette): drag, toke (marijuana cigarette)
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "act of pulling"): push, shove
(antonym(s) of "attractive force"): repulsion
(antonym(s) of "device meant to be pulled"): button, push, push-button
(antonym(s) of "influence"):