PULLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pulling mean? 

• PULLING (noun)
  The noun PULLING has 1 sense:

1. the act of pulling; applying force to move something toward or with you

  Familiarity information: PULLING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PULLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of pulling; applying force to move something toward or with you

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

pull; pulling

Context example:

his strenuous pulling strained his back

Hypernyms ("pulling" is a kind of...):

actuation; propulsion (the act of propelling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pulling"):

drag (the act of dragging (pulling with force))

draw; haul; haulage (the act of drawing or hauling something)

jerk; tug (a sudden abrupt pull)

draft; draught; drawing (the act of moving a load by drawing or pulling)

deracination; excision; extirpation (the act of pulling up or out; uprooting; cutting off from existence)

pluck (the act of pulling and releasing a taut cord)

traction ((orthopedics) the act of pulling on a bone or limb (as in a fracture) to relieve pressure or align parts in a special way during healing)

Derivation:

pull (cause to move by pulling)

pull (apply force so as to cause motion towards the source of the motion)

 Context examples 

He could not deny the justice of my request, so with a rather rueful face he went off to his bedroom, from which he returned presently pulling a large tin box behind him.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I got up quietly, and pulling aside the blind, looked out.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The second was a unique and previously unknown type of neuron that responded robustly to hair pulling.

(Study uncovers specialized mouse neurons that play a unique role in pain, National Institutes of Health)

She stood up, pulling at her gloves.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“These are the sacrifices one makes for one’s country, Watson,” said Holmes, pulling at his little tuft.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The act of pulling out, including the process of obtaining something from a mixture or compound by chemical or physical or mechanical means.

(Extraction, NCI Thesaurus)

The protein nesprin-3 forms a crucial link for this pulling mechanism.

(New Mechanism of Cell Movement Revealed, NIH)

These filopodia then attach to fibrin fibers and reel them in using the same hand-over-hand action used by a person pulling on a rope.

(How And Why Blood Clots Shrink, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“Why,” said my wife, pulling up her veil, “it is Kate Whitney. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you came in.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he lay quiet for a little, and then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)