to pull off
20
4.4
- phrasal verb
- /pʊl ɔf/
:
retirar
- The coach decided to pull off the injured player to ensure he could recover properly.
And he, you know, pulls a lot of people off of me from the pile.
- And he, you know, pulls a lot of people off of me from the pile.
- If I saw someone being attacked, I would go and I would pull that attacker off that person.
- How can I process this and integrate healing in a healthy way so that when life happens, it doesn't pull me off my mission?
- The lenders still offering loans pulled many of their deals off the market until the situation calms down and they can be repriced.
Examples
-
I want him pulled off active duty for a while until we can evaluate his condition.
-
At this point, we realize these men are going to pull off an armed robbery of this armored truck.
Fiction book (1995) -
I had to pull her off the fire escape.
-
About three miles later, the van pulled off on the shoulder.
Fiction book (1993) -
I pulled Julian off him and got the kid safe.
-
They're trying to pull you off the steps and you fight the cops.
-
If I saw someone being attacked, I would go and I would pull that attacker off that person.
-
"Come on, get up," Delia said and pulled me off my bench.
Fiction book (2002) -
Then Clarice is pulled off the case, forcing her to save the latest victim on her own.
Academic text (2009) -
Instead of marching on through the night, Colonel Faribault pulled his men off the road to camp in a wheat field.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
∞
3.1
To leave out a sound or part of a word
466
2.8
To stop taking part in a place or activity
206
3.4
To stop being involved in an activity or agreement
162
3.4
To move yourself and things backward from a place, person, or situation
86
3.5
To move away from people or a place to create space
82
5.3
To stop being part of or connected to something
79
3.2
Leave an activity or agreement you had joined
7
3.7
To pull something away from where it is, for example a bandage or curtain
6
4.5
To pull something off quickly with force
3
4.1
To leave a group and move away in a different direction
1
4.2
To pull something away carefully, for example a bandage or tablecloth
To get someone or something out with effort
Antonyms
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense of 'succeed in doing something difficult' can be linked to 'pull' (exert effort) plus 'off' (completion/removal), so there is a plausible compositional/metaphorical connection. However, the specific meaning 'manage to accomplish' is a figurative extension of the literal parts and is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure; thus it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Pull off in the sense 'to cause someone or something to withdraw' comes from the picture of physically pulling someone off a stage or out of a job, like a coach who pulls off a player. That's why it means 'to remove someone from an activity or position'.