an exercise consisting of chinning oneself, as on a horizontal bar attached at each end to a doorpost.
a flight maneuver in which an aircraft climbs sharply from level flight.
(tr) to remove by the roots
to move level (with) or ahead (of) or cause to move level (with) or ahead (of), esp in a race
to stop
(tr) to rebuke
an exercise in which the body is raised up by the arms pulling on a horizontal bar fixed above the head
old-fashioned a roadside café
Stop or cause to stop, as in He pulled up his horse , or They pulled up in front of the door . [Early 1600s]
Catch up, advance in relation to others, as in a race. For example, She was behind at the start, but she quickly pulled up . [Late 1800s] Also see pull oneself up by one's bootstraps .
First recorded in 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase pull up
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Lululemon recently kicked off an annual event held in cities throughout China it calls the Summer Sweat Games, where participants in Shanghai entered kettlebell and pull-up competitions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
As long as Hegseth keeps his chest-thumping and pull-up contests in the land of make-believe, these men are happy.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2026
It's a functional space; strip lighting, bench presses, pull-up bars and the tang of stale sweat.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
Claude scored 10 straight for the Trojans, hitting a pull-up with under a minute remaining to tie it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2025
It was like trying to do a pull-up wearing lead shoes.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
A grill can be more than the place where dinner happens; it can become the center of the party, giving everyone a reason to pull up a chair, put down their phone and get involved.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
But the finance minister, who’s been instrumental in Zug’s transformation, now wants to pull up the welcome mat with the population cap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
If Arsenal win their next three Premier League matches, Man City will have to pull up trees.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
“You pull up your big-girl panties and you do what you got to do,” Applegate says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
But with Felix and Freebie not part of the morning car pool, Benji could finally pull up to Stirling Middle School in the Bugatti.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
No big deal: some pull-ups, some push-ups, a few squats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
I’ll admit: I didn’t ask him to do push-ups and pull-ups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2025
It’s in service of crank conspiracy theories, quack wellness influencers and weird dystopian visions of supermen doing pull-ups to demonstrate their patriotism.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2025
In another, he answers questions in military fatigues before performing a series of pull-ups in a gym.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2024
Actually, he’d gotten up at least a dozen times to do pull-ups on a beam and he’d lifted logs for half an hour.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
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.
