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• pull-up
  pull-up

  noun

  an exercise consisting of chinning oneself, as on a horizontal bar attached at each end to a doorpost.
• pull up
  pull up

  verb

  (tr) to remove by the roots

pull-up

American  

[pool-uhp] / ˈpʊlˌʌp /

Or pullup

noun

• pull-ups
  plural

1. an exercise consisting of chinning oneself, as on a horizontal bar attached at each end to a doorpost.

2. a flight maneuver in which an aircraft climbs sharply from level flight.

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pull up British  

verb

1. (tr) to remove by the roots

2. to move level (with) or ahead (of) or cause to move level (with) or ahead (of), esp in a race

3. to stop

4. (tr) to rebuke

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noun

1. an exercise in which the body is raised up by the arms pulling on a horizontal bar fixed above the head

2. old-fashioned a roadside café

pull up Idioms  

1. Stop or cause to stop, as in He pulled up his horse , or They pulled up in front of the door . [Early 1600s]

2. 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 .

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pull-ups
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pull-up

First recorded in 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase pull up

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pull-up pull up pull-ups

At the other end, she swiped the ball from a driving player, drove to the arc and hit a pull-up 3-pointer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 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

Doncic’s 45 points came from the wild array of skills he possesses — deep threes, drives where he pulled the emergency brake for a pull-up jumper and trips to the line thanks to his physicality.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2025

I couldn’t climb the gym ropes, I couldn’t swing on the swings, and I couldn’t do a pull-up.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

“I pull up FlightRadar, and I can see a flight in between the countries while we’re on the call. I’m like, ‘How can you possibly allow this?’”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

After coming through his opening match with little fuss, the questions then turned to how Alcaraz would pull up physically two days later.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Payment systems take bitcoin, and for customers who pull up in Teslas, there are free supersize fry upgrades served in gold boxes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

“They’re kind of mischievous — they tend to pull up trees we just planted,” said Steve Mietz, president and chief executive of the Save the Redwoods League.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

I pull up the sleeves of my letterman’s jacket a bit, and try to lift my arm to show him, but my shoulder throbs.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

The 30-second spot features a young man in a park attempting pull-ups, who asks a muscular bystander about achieving six-pack abs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026

The 45-year-old has challenged 71-year-old Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to fitness tests in which the men do 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in 10 minutes or less.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025

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

And you ought to see him in his hunting clothes grunting away, doing pull-ups on that rusted swing set in his backyard.

From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings

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