Showing results for pull over. Search instead for pulls over.

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

Officers tried to stop a black Audi on Birmingham Road shortly before 17:30 BST on Monday but the driver failed to pull over, Warwickshire Police said.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

There’s no safe place to pull over, no signs pointing toward escape, no assurance that their lives have a destination.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Normally busy streets became eerily quiet as police directed traffic to pull over and waved people into shelters.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

We should have some time to pull over for a lazy lunch in a roadside village.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

By then we were all dying to pee and wondering if Dad was going to pull over for a rest stop.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

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