pull over

British

verb

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

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.

See Examples For:

pull over

One driver said a device inexplicably cut his car’s top speed to 35 mph on a highway, forcing him to pull over, according to the person’s lawyer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

Prosecutors said he had refused to pull over for a traffic stop.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

The Audi was being followed by police officers after it had earlier failed to pull over when requested to do so.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

The perpetrators told her to drive to the sheriff’s office to settle the signature issue, then ordered her to pull over before she arrived: Bail had to be deposited all at once, not in increments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

We were laughing so hard I had to pull over.

From "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz

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