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to move something towards yourself, sometimes with great physical effort:
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Could you help me move this bookcase over there? You pull and I'll push.
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He pulled the chair away from the desk.
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He pulled the heavy box across the floor to the door.
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[ + obj + adj ] He pulled the door open.
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The car was pulling a caravan.
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The sun was so strong we had to pull down the blinds.
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She pulled out the drawer.
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1
to take something out of or away from a place, especially using physical effort:
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He pulled off his sweater.
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The dentist pulled both teeth out.
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I spent the morning pulling up the weeds in the flowerbeds.
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When officials realized the cultural gaffe, the company pulled the ad and apologized.
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2
to move in the stated direction:
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During the last lap of the race one of the runners began to pull ahead.
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We waved as the train pulled out of the station.
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Our armies are pulling back on all fronts.
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She pulled herself up the stairs, holding onto the rail.
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He put his hands on the side of the pool and pulled himself out of the water.
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3
to attract a person or people:
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The show has certainly pulled (in) the crowds.
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He certainly knows how to pull women.
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Did Tracy pull at the nightclub last night?
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4
to injure a muscle by stretching it too much:
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I pulled a muscle in my back lifting some drawers.
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He pulled a hamstring.
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5
to perform a dishonest action:
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The gang that pulled the bank robbery were all arrested.
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No one's gonna pull that kind of trick on me!
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6
to get information from the internet, after asking or searching for it:
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7
the act of pulling something towards yourself:
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Give the rope a hard pull.
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a curtain pull
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a drawer pull
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8
something that attracts people:
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"How can we persuade people to come to the meeting?" "A glass of wine is quite a good pull."
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The greater the mass of an object, the greater its gravitational pull.
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The movie's all-star cast should give it a lot of pull.
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influence:
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He's still got quite a bit of pull in the club - he could probably get you elected.
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to move something toward yourself, sometimes with great physical effort:
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[ I ] Could you help me move this bookcase over there? You pull and I’ll push.
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[ T ] Alice lay down and pulled a blanket over her.
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[ I ] The little girl pulled at his sleeve (= moved it slightly and repeatedly toward her).
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11
to take something out of or away from a place, esp. using physical effort:
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[ M ] The dentist had to pull two of my teeth out.
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[ M ] I spent the morning pulling up weeds in the garden.
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She’s asking companies to pull their ads from the program.
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12
to hold or be attached to the front of something and cause it to move with you:
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[ T ] The car was pulling a trailer.
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[ I ] Elise sat on the sled while Carol pulled.
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13
to move or move something in the stated direction:
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Her car pulled out into traffic.
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The sun was so strong we had to pull down the blinds.
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He pulled off his wet clothes and laid them out to dry.
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Pull up a chair and join us.
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14
to move your body or a part of your body:
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[ I ] He started yelling at the referee and had to be pulled away by teammates.
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[ T always + adv/prep ] He pulled his arm out just as the doors were closing.
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[ T always + adv/prep ] She pulled herself up onto the rock.
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15
to operate a device that makes a piece of equipment work:
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She took out a quarter, dropped it into the slot machine, and pulled the lever.
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to attract a person or people:
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She was able to pull more votes than the other candidates.
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[ M ] The networks are grabbing for any edge that pulls in viewers.
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to injure a muscle by stretching it too much:
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Marie pulled a hamstring and couldn’t play in the finals.
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to perform an action that is dishonest or intended to deceive:
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Mikey was pulling his usual stunt of feeding most of his lunch to the cat.
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Why would you try to pull a trick/prank like that on her?
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influence, esp. with important people:
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to stop providing something or take something away from someone or something:
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A major partner has threatened to pull all sponsorship.
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The first step is to pull the advertising for the defective product.
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pull sth from/out of sth Candies with more than .2 parts per million of lead would be pulled from stores.
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Elderly savers began to pull their money out of the accounts.
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to attract interest from customers:
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If it doesn't pull big audiences, what's the point of the festival?
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A programme with a few star names is sure to pull the crowds.
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to do something unexpected that improves a difficult situation:
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If they want to survive the crisis, they'll need to pull something out of the hat pretty quickly.
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The company's in real trouble, and they don't seem to have any rabbits to pull out of the hat.
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23
to stop an activity from continuing:
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If costs rise any higher, we'll have to pull the plug on the whole project.
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to use your personal influence to make things happen:
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She may be retired, but she can still pull strings in the city.
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Don't you know anyone who can pull a few strings for us?
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to be the person who is in control of things:
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He's decided to put in the money himself, rather than let the investors pull the strings
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Don't ask me. I'm not the one who's pulling the strings.
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to work as hard as other people or as hard as expected and needed:
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Everyone is expected to pull their weight on this project.
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influence or power over other people:
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These people have a lot of pull in government circles.
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I'm afraid I don't have that much pull with the management.
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the ability to attract people:
