pulling 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
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.