pull
Forms
- present (v1)
- pull
- past (v2)
- pulled
- past participle (v3)
- pulled
- present participle
- pulling
- 3rd person singular
- pulls
- Plural
- pulls
Definitions
1.To apply a force to (an object) so that it comes toward the person or thing applying the force.
- Ne'er pull your hat upon your brows.
- When I give the signal, pull the rope.
- Pull your belt tight before starting off, will you?
2.To gather with the hand, or by drawing toward oneself; to pluck or pick (flowers, fruit, etc.).
- He and some of his companions one day entered a garden in the suburbs, and having indulged their appetites, desired to know what satisfaction they must make for the fruit they had pulled.
3.To persuade (someone) to have sex with one.(slang)
- I pulled at the club last night.
- He's pulled that bird over there.
- Grab your coat, love, you've pulled.
4.To attract or net; to pull in.
- Television, a favored source of news and information, pulls the largest share of advertising monies.
1.Command used by a target shooter to request that the target be released/launched.
1.An attractive force which causes motion towards the source.
- The spaceship came under the pull of the gas giant.
2.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.
3.An act of pulling (applying force toward oneself).
- She took several pulls on her cigarette.
- He gave the hair a sharp pull and it came out.
- I found myself suddenly awaked with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #503
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Common
Related words
Etymology
Verb from Middle English pullen, from Old English pullian (“to pull, draw, tug, pluck off”), of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to West Frisian pûlje (“to shell, husk”), Middle Dutch pullen (“to drink”), Middle Dutch polen (“to peel, strip”), Low German pulen (“to pick, pluck, pull, tear, strip off husks”), Icelandic púla (“to work hard, beat”).