Idioms

pull back

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pull back

1. To back away, withdraw, or retreat. We're being fired at by someone in the rooftops. Everyone, pull back! I pulled back a bit when I realized that I had been putting too much pressure on my pupil.
2. To pull, tug, or haul someone or something backwards or away from something. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "pull" and "back." He pulled the small child back from the street. I pulled back the curtains and saw that it had been snowing overnight.
See also: back, pull
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

pull someone or something back (from someone or something)

to grasp and haul someone or something away from someone or something. The cop pulled the kid away from the other kid and made them stop fighting. I pulled back the child from the dangerous hole.
See also: back, pull

pull back (from someone or something)

to move back from someone or something. When I saw how sick he looked, I pulled back from him in shock. I took one look at the snake and pulled back.
See also: back, pull
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

pull back

Retreat, as in The troops gradually pulled back. [Mid-1500s]
See also: back, pull
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pull back

v.
1. To haul or tug something or someone backward: I pulled my hair back and put it in a ponytail. She pulled back the curtain and looked outside. He pulled me back from the edge of the cliff.
2. To withdraw or retreat: The firefighters pulled back when the fire reached the gas tanks.
3. To order someone to withdraw or retreat: The commander pulled the troops back to a safer position. Aid organizations are pulling back volunteers until the fighting in that area stops.
See also: back, pull
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
See also:
References in periodicals archive
The annular region between the pipe and the borehole should be filled with drilling mud to minimize the frictional loads on the pipe during pull back. The drilling mud in this annular region and in the bore should not be removed after installation, but permitted to solidify to provide support for the pipe and neighboring soil.
It is permissible to drill the pilot hole and preream, if necessary, one day and complete both the final backream and pull back another day.
Guidelines for installing PE gas pipes using HDD
Environment and local officials decided to slowly pull back the vessel and bring it to a portion of the sea where the depth was at 14 meters to prevent further damage on the coral reefs at the Monad Shoal, a known diving report off Malapascua Island, which is part of Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu.
Tugging operations to pull ship off Malapascua Island underway
Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar said during a television interview, that the government would pull back troops from the nearly 1,100 check posts, deployed to check illegal cross-border movement along the Pak-Afghan border, Xinhua reports.
"The next step would be that the government or the armed forces will pull back the forces from the border areas," Mukhtar added.
Pakistan threatens to pull troops from Afghan border if US cuts military aid
* Pull back closely a hand full of hair twist and fix at the back of the head with a few grips.
Hair we go
* Identification and access to "off the radar" lenders who do the deals our clients need to get done (certain new lenders have "stepped in" to fill the void created by the demise and/or pull back of certain previously high profile lenders).
A good mortgage is worth every penny
Global Banking News-October 10, 2016--US banks pull back from corporate lending push
US banks pull back from corporate lending push
| LONDON, April 5 (KUNA) -- Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague this evening welcomed the United Nations' demand that President Bashar Assad pull back troops amid continuing violence with opposition protesters in Syria.
Hague welcomes UN Syria demand
Private lenders and non-traditional funding sources are emerging as the main source of capital for commercial real estate loans, as investment banks pull back in the wake of market turmoil on Wall Street.
Private lenders emege as main source of capital
Global Banking News-November 20, 2015--Credit Suisse to pull back from setting investment banking targets
Credit Suisse to pull back from setting investment banking targets
Low premiums in the business have prompted a pull back. Berkshire Hathaway Inc said in its first-quarter earnings report that the premium dollars it received were down by 2 percent from the same period of 2014.
Berkshire pulls back from property insurance
The Poweram 7000 can split or burst up to 12-inch pipe and pull back pipe up to 16 inches in diameter in most soil conditions.
Poweram
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