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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

Etymology

Origin of pull-up

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

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

Redick credited the 21-year-old with settling the team with a pull-up jumper with 3:55 to go in the game, which was the second this season LeBron and Bronny played together.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 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

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

“It’s moving so fast on my Instagram right now that my analytics will not pull up the correct numbers,” Lamb said of her post.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

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

“I want people to pull up dressed as chefs,” Díaz says.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026

For instance, while renovating a house, Saunders turned to a chatbot to quickly pull up the relevant building regulations.

From BBC ● May 11, 2026

Dicey held herself stiff until she heard the motor of the truck start, and then longer, until she saw the truck pull up the long slope before the school building and turn back to town.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Bodyweight training, also known as calisthenics, uses your own body weight for exercises such as push-ups, squats and pull-ups to help build strength.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

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 thought this was ridiculous so I went and got a bag and packed his pull-ups – and I think they realised then it was never going to work for an autistic non-verbal child."

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025

Lifting weights was a struggle with poor results; sets of twenty pull-ups became sets of four, on good days; and his coach pulled him out of the ring indefinitely because fighting would be impossible.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

Related Words

• arrive
• brake
• pause