IDIOMS WITH 'PULL'

There are a surprising number of commonly used idioms that contain the verb ‘pull’.

1.  If you accuse someone of pulling your leg, you mean that you believe they are teasing you by saying something that isn’t true. If we think that someone is teasing us in that way, we might say ‘Pull the other leg/one!’, or even the longer version ‘Pull the other one – it’s got bells on!’. This shows that we don’t believe them.

She’s just pulling your leg – she doesn’t really expect you to do all the cooking.

You have a pet lion? Pull the other one!

2. We use ‘pull’ in several idioms connected with people making an effort and doing what they should do. If someone pulls their weight, they do their share of the work and if you pull out all the stops, you make as much effort as possible to ensure that something is successful or impressive.

Anyone who doesn’t pull their weight will have to leave the project.

They pulled out all the stops to make sure the president enjoyed his visit.

3. On the other hand, if someone tells you to pull your socks up, they are saying in an angry way that you should do something better.

You need to pull your socks up and start taking your studies a bit more seriously!

4. There are two nice ‘pull’ idioms connected with stopping things. If you pull the plug on an activity, you stop it, often by not spending any more money on it, and if you pull the rug from under someone’s feet, you suddenly stop supporting them or do something that causes serious problems for them:

They decided to pull the plug on their latest venture after disappointing sales in the first year.

We were planning a surprise party for their anniversary but they pulled the rug from under our feet by announcing they were going away on a cruise.

5. If you say that someone didn’t pull their punches, or didn’t pull any punches, you mean that they say something in a very direct way, without trying to be kind or tactful:

She told me exactly what she thought of my novel and she didn’t pull any punches.

And finally – a rather painful image! – if you say that doing something is like pulling teeth, you mean that it is very difficult and often slow to do.

by Liz Walter