to pull the plug
87
5.5
- phrasal verb
:
cancelar
- The manager announced that they would pull the plug on the initiative if performance did not improve.
Radical acceptance pulls the plug on hope.
- Radical acceptance pulls the plug on hope.
- Why has Keir Starmer pulled the plug on a public national inquiry?
- And then we'll pull the plug and we'll let the currency collapse.
- That's the hard part, knowing when and if to pull the plug.
- Let's just let's just pull the plug on this.
- I once they pulled the plug and said, you know, we're not going to move forward.
- And the husband wanted her to wanted to pull the plug.
- So we in one day pulled the plug, walked away from selling DVDs entirely.
- And this Biden administration just pulls the plug on them.
- I didn't, I didn't pull the plug on practicing law until the book came out.
- You're gonna pull the plug on the whole thing because one box is bad.
- I, I think something that I the, the year that I pulled the plug was I pulled the plug in maybe like May.
- Insane speculation and nonsense will come into heavy question, especially if finance pulls the plug and doesn't buy FTX.
- My opinion, if I was the president of our country, if I was Congress, I'd pull the plug on money to Ukraine.
- And so I hit a point where I essentially had to go raise money or pull the plug on it.
Examples
-
The university is pulling the plug on your brother's lab.
-
The time has come to pull the plug on nursing homes.
Academic text (1997) -
We're ready to pull the plug.
-
The tough news is I think we're going to be pulling the plug on this first live show.
-
That process had just started when the Obama administration pulled the plug on it.
-
They will pull the plug on this.
-
The board is up my ass and I have to decide whether to continue this fiasco - or pull the plug now.
-
The board decided to pull the plug on Argus.
Fiction book (1999) -
The dire forecast sort of encouraged them to pull the plug on the season.
Blog text (6) -
After careful consideration, the committee decided to pull the plug on the project due to lack of funding.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To make something end and not continue
620
3.8
To stop something suddenly before it is finished
162
3.4
To move yourself and things backward from a place, person, or situation
159
3.5
To take money or things out of a place where they are kept
131
3.0
To make something stop completely
93
5.6
To stop a plan or activity before it finishes, often because of problems
79
3.2
Leave an activity or agreement you had joined
62
3.0
To end something so it no longer happens
58
4.2
To stop something that is happening or being given
11
4.3
To slow down an activity or stop it
7
4.3
To stop giving help and approval to a person or group
6
6.4
To stop a supply by blocking its source or flow
5
6.6
To stop depending on someone or something and become independent
1
3.6
End something completely so it does not continue
To suddenly stop helping someone, leaving them in a difficult situation
Antonyms
How Final
112
4.1
147
4.6
87
5.5
141
3.9
346
1.0
234
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
pull + the + plug
The literal action of 'pulling a plug' causes a device to stop working, so the MWE's sense 'to stop something from happening or continuing' is a direct, predictable metaphorical extension of 'pull' + 'plug'. This physical-to-abstract mapping is common and follows transparent compositional logic, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase pull the plug may come from the image of someone literally pulling an electrical plug out of the wall to stop a machine. If you pull the plug, the machine stops, so the phrase now means 'to stop something' or 'to take away help'.