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pull over

British  

verb

  1. (intr) (of a motor vehicle, driver, etc) to halt at the side of the road

  2. (tr) (of a police officer) to instruct (the driver of a motor vehicle) to halt at the side of the road

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
pull over Idioms  

  1. Bring a vehicle to the side of the road; also, instruct a motorist to stop. For example, We pulled over to ask a passerby for directions, or The state trooper pulled the speeding motorist over. [First half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Investors sought to pull over $20 billion from certain private-credit funds in the first quarter, but only $11 billion was redeemed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

It is not just old bangers police pull over.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026

It's not like you can drive your car down the road, get a flat tire, pull over, fix it and keep going.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

Should Dante get anxious or sick, you can pull over.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 20, 2026

We pull over to the side of the road, leaving the car, and walk through the abandoned entrance, puzzling at the barrier that must have been put in place after the gate came down.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.