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Glite Dictionary
to pull up stakes

to pull up stakes

5 7.2
Leave home and move to a new place
  • phrasal verb
  • /pʊl ʌp steɪks/
  • Informal
translation icon : mudarse
  • And if tomorrow it were to pull up stakes and move to Europe, Japan, or Latin America, it would undoubtedly assume a very different character.
  • pull up stakes and move
  • pull up stakes and leave
  • pulling up stakes and leaving town

Their children may have pulled up stakes, gone no contact or live far away and have had it with their narcissistic parent.

Examples

  • I can't just pull up stakes and move out here, Weldon.

    Shadows in the Sun (2005)

  • The Santinis and the son-in-law Santana were Catholics, but they were one of our pioneer families, and folks were surprised to see them pull up stakes.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Thanks, brother, but the fact is I gotta pull up stakes for a while.

    Barton Fink (1991)

  • Then when I decided to pull up stakes, I bought him this restaurant we're going to.

    Beat the Devil (1953)

  • I would pull up stakes and head west.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • But the fact is, I gotta pull up stakes temporarily.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Since she belonged to no one, she could easily pull up stakes and join my mother for as long as we needed her.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Time to pull up stakes and head for me Gates of Rome.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • I can't just pull up stakes and take off by myself.

    Roger & Me (1989)

  • When the job opportunity in another city arose, they decided to pull up stakes and start anew.

Synonyms

to leave
vsto pull up stakes
∞ 1.0

To go away from a place, person, or group

focuses on moving home to a new residence rather than any kind of leaving
to depart
vsto pull up stakes
176 1.3

To leave a place to start a journey

is about moving home to a new residence, not only starting a trip
to relocate
vsto pull up stakes
147 3.7

Move to a new place and start living or working there

focuses on leaving home without stressing becoming established
to leave home
vsto pull up stakes
102 1.4

To move out of your parents' house to live by yourself

is broader, covering any move and not only starting independent life
to migrate
vsto pull up stakes
76 3.1

To move from one place to another to live, often for work or because seasons change

is about leaving home without necessarily moving between countries
to move out
vsto pull up stakes
36 2.8

To make someone or something leave a place

means leaving one's own home rather than forcing others out
to resettle
vsto pull up stakes
15 4.3

Move to a new place to live when something forces you to leave your home

implies leaving home by choice rather than after coercion
to move house
vsto pull up stakes
  • UK
3 2.1

To change where you live to a different home

is an informal way to say leaving home to live elsewhere

Antonyms

to stay put
  • Informal
133 2.0

Remain in the same place without moving

How Far

to emigrate
34 3.7
to relocate
147 3.7
to pull up stakes
  • Informal
5 7.2
move
259 1.1
to move house
  • UK
3 2.1

Surface Forms

pull up stakes infinitive
pulled up stakes past
pulled up stakes past participle
pulling up stakes present participle
pulls up stakes third person singular

Morphology

pull + up + stake

The phrase has a visible link to the literal action of 'pulling up' (removing) and 'stakes' (posts driven into the ground), which can suggest uprooting a camp and therefore leaving. However, the specific meaning 'to move house/leave one's place' is idiomatic and depends on cultural/historical knowledge of staking camps, so a B1 learner who simply knows the words is unlikely to fully infer the exact sense without prior exposure.

Etymology

The verb pull up stakes may come from a time when people lived in tents; to move, they had to pull up the tent stakes from the ground. So, the phrase came to mean 'to leave your home and move to a new place'.