pull

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, transitive) To apply a force to (an object) so that it comes toward the person or thing applying the force.
   • When I give the signal, pull the rope.
   • Pull your belt tight before starting off, will you?

   Synonyms:

   drag, tow, tug, yank

2. To gather with the hand, or by drawing toward oneself; to pluck or pick (flowers, fruit, etc.).
   • to pull fruit from a tree
   • pull flax
3. (transitive) To attract or net; to pull in.
   • 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
4. (Ireland, UK, ambitransitive, slang) To persuade (someone) to have sex with one.
   • I pulled at the club last night.
   • He's pulled that bird over there.

   Synonyms:

   score

5. (US, ambitransitive, slang) To interest (someone) in dating or pursuing one (whether or not this has led to sex).
   • Wow, Joyce pulls, actually.2025 January 7, David Willis (cartoonist), Jennifer Billingsworth (character), "Coincidence", Dumbing of Age (webcomic)
6. (transitive) To remove or withdraw (something), especially from public circulation or availability.
   • 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.

   Synonyms:

   recall, withdraw, yank

7. (transitive) To retrieve or look up for use.
   • I'll have to pull a part number for that.
   • This computer file is incorrect. Can we pull the old version from your backups?

   Synonyms:

   generate, get, get hold of, get one's hands on, lay one's hands on, obtain, retrieve

8. To obtain (a permit) from a regulatory authority.
   • It's the contractor's responsibility to pull the necessary permits before starting work.
9. (informal, transitive) To do or perform, especially something seen as negative by the speaker.
   • He regularly pulls 12-hour days, sometimes 14.
   • You'll be sent home if you pull another stunt like that.

   Synonyms:

   carry out, complete, do, execute, perform

10. 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.).
    • He pulled an Elvis and got really fat.
    • They're trying to pull a Watergate on us.
11. To toss a frisbee with the intention of launching the disc across the length of a field.
12. (intransitive) To row.
    • 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

Interjection

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

Noun

pull (countable and uncountable, plural pulls)

1. (countable) An act of pulling (applying force toward oneself).
   • He gave the hair a sharp pull and it came out.
   • She took several pulls on her cigarette.

   Synonyms:

   tug, yank

2. (uncountable) An attractive force which causes motion towards the source.
   • The spaceship came under the pull of the gas giant.
   • iron fillings drawn by the pull of a magnet

   Synonyms:

   attraction

3. (figuratively, uncountable) An advantage over somebody; a means of influencing.
   • 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
4. (figuratively, informal, uncountable) The power to influence someone or something; sway, clout.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   influence, sway

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

   Synonyms:

   handle, knob, lever, rope

6. (countable, figuratively) A randomized selection from a given set.
   • card pull
   1. (Internet, figuratively) A high-quality or funny recommendation by the algorithm.
      • mythical FYP pull
   2. (figuratively, gacha games) A player's use of a game's gacha mechanic to obtain a random reward.
7. (dated, figuratively, slang) Something in one's favour in a comparison or a contest; advantage.
   • In weights the favourite had the pull.
8. (figuratively, uncountable) Appeal or attraction.
   • the pull of a movie star
9. (Internet) The act or process of sending out a request for data from a server by a client.
   • server pull
   • pull technology
10. (countable) A journey made by rowing.
    • 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.1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V
11. (dated) A contest; a struggle.
    • a wrestling pull
    • this wrastling pull betweene Corineus and Gogmagog, is reported to have befallen at Douer.1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC
12. (countable) An injury resulting from a forceful pull on a limb, etc.; strain; sprain.
    • 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

    Synonyms:

    drag, toke