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
In need of a confidence boost, UCLA’s Dylan Andrews followed a pull-up jumper with a tough turnaround baseline jumper to pull his team within 53-47 with 12:36 left.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025
His pull-up jumper floats through the net, then everything goes slow motion: the ball, the player .
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
“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 go, “Yeah, man,” We start talking, he’s asking me questions, we’re talking about comedy, and then we pull up, and he goes, “What’s your name, by the way?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
"It's a concern. We've had cops pull up for minor things and everybody freaks out because today, even if you have your papers -- which they all do -- anything can happen," the 20-year-old said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
I take out my phone, pull up the song, and hit Play.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
“I can do 25 pull-ups that can impress you.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
She also included an audio clip from a “Rocky” movie over a montage of her skiing, doing pull-ups, lifting weights — and vomiting into a bucket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
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
Parents being called into school to change children's pull-ups and nappies is "unfair", one father has said.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 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
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.
