Word.ws English Dictionary

pulled the plug

pulled the plug is the simple past and past participle of pull the plug.

Meaning of pull the plug

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To unplug or cut power to a machine.
    • Shut off the machine and pull the plug.
  2. (informal, intransitive) To turn off life support.
  3. (informal, intransitive) To commit suicide.
    • Cathy was eleven when she pulled the plug / On twenty-six reds and a bottle of wine1981, The Jim Carroll Band, People Who Died
  4. (informal, intransitive) To cease to support; to halt.
    • It's a wonder the director didn't pull the plug on that project months ago.
  5. (informal, intransitive) To cease production or publication.

Questions about pulled the plug

What is pulled the plug the simple past and past participle of?
Pulled the plug is the simple past and past participle of pull the plug.

Words near pulled the plug in the dictionary

  1. pulled the ladder up after oneself
  2. pulled the ladder up behind oneself
  3. pulled the long bow
  4. pulled the other leg
  5. pulled the pin
  6. pulled the plug
  7. pulled the rug
  8. pulled the rug out from under
  9. pulled the shutters down
  10. pulled the string
  11. pulled the trigger

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pulled the plug (page history and authors); pull the plug (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “pulled the plug.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pulled_the_plug. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.