pull through

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To come through pain and trouble through perseverance.
   • There was once a poor, very poor widow, who had an only son. She pulled through with the boy till he was confirmed; but then she told him that she could not feed him any longer; he would have to go out and earn his own bread.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 215
   • Dr. Gilman's race horse was bad last week; fortunately Mr. Verney, the District Veterinary Surgeon, succeeded in pulling him through.1901 April 12, “District Reports”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 3, page 68
2. (transitive) To assist someone through difficulties, injury, pain, etc.
   • "Dr. Van-Herne is confident of pulling Godfrey through, isn't he?"1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XV, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 176
3. (transitive) To clean the barrel of a firearm using a pull through.