pullingn.
/ˈpʊlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpʊlɪŋ/ 1.
a. The action or an act of pulling away or removing something; plucking, picking, gathering; uprooting. Also with away, up.In early use also: †plundering, despoliation (cf. pull v. 1b) (obsolete).
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > picking or gathering > [noun]
picking1272
pullinga1382
food gathering1895
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Eccl. iii. 2 In þer spaces passen alle thingis vnder þe sunne, tyme of hauynge birþe & tyme of diynge, tyme of plauntynge & tyme of pullyng vp.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xlii. 24 Who ȝaf iacob in to pulling awei [a1425 L.V. rauyschyng; L. direptionem] & irael to wasteris?
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 253 Also hem [vines] nedeþ pampynacioun, þat is to menynge, pullynge away [L. amouere] of superfluite of leues.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. 247 (MED) The eyen of their [sc. asparagus'] germynacioun With pullyng wol disclose after the ferme yer.
a1500 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Rawl.) (1896) 113 (MED) Golde and syluer..wel hungryly he gadderid to-giddyr, with pledynge and Pullynge of peese men.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 259/1 Pullyng awaye, abstraction.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry ii. f. 83 With often digging, and pullyng of the leaues.
1623 G. Markham Countrey Contentments iii. 166 Hemp may within a night or two after the pulling be caried to the water.
1637 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Elder Brother ii. i. sig. D1v Like a blushing Rose that staies the pulling.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 60 The best time for pullinge of pease is in wette weather.
1711 Direct. Sowing & Preparing of Flax (Linen & Hempen Manuf. Ireland) 6 When you observe the Stalks of the Flax turn Yellow, the Seed Brown, and the Leaves wither and fall off, its fit for Pulling.
1765 Museum Rusticum 4 457 If the flax be so short and branchy as to appear most valuable for seed, it ought, after pulling, to be stooked.
1847 H. Melville Omoo ii. lx. 287 The pulling of weeds was considered by our employers an easy occupation.
1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 261 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV It grows naturally in tufts or clumps, and is gathered by pulling.
1875 J. Grant One of Six Hundred ii I fear there will be a great pulling of caps among the housemaids.
1938 Amer. Home June 24/2 The husband so engrossed in weeding that he rests only between pullings.
1985 Gardening from Which? Aug. 248/3 ‘Timperley Early’ [rhubarb]..is ready for pulling at least a month before other common varieties.
b. The action of removing or stripping feathers, wool, etc. Also: the removal of long hairs from a horse's mane or tail, or from fur (cf. pull v. 1c, 1d).
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1425 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 188 (MED) Item, for pullynge of peions, ij d.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 416 Pullynge, or plukkynge of fowle, deplumacio.
1578–9 Proclam. Q. Eliz. 18 Feb. The inordinate pulling of marchantable wooll fels.
1612 Acts Lawting Sheriff Orkney (Maitland Club) 160 Act for Thift, Rowing and pulling of Scheip.
1796 W. Marshall Rural Econ. W. Eng. II. 183 The whole [sc. geese] are subjected to the operation of ‘pulling’.
1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 278/2 A high duty on wool makes it cheaper to have the ‘wool-pulling’ done in England, and let the skins come to us as our raw material.
1897 19th Cent. Nov. 740 After the pulling (that is the removal of the longer and coarser hairs) the skins are again dried.
1950 Horsemanship for Pony Club 103 Pulling is done to thin out an over-thick mane, to reduce a long mane to the required length, or to permit the mane to lie flat.
1963 E. M. Pohle in W. von Bergen Wool Handbk. (ed. 3) I. ix. 668 The pulling is conducted in the pulleries which..are connected with the large slaughter-houses.
1974 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 11 June (Chinook Mag.) 19/2 Cannibalism in poultry flocks includes feather pulling, toe picking and tail picking.
1998 C. Henderson Horse Owner's Survival Guide vii. 105 If you want to shorten and thin a mane without pulling, there are ways of getting a neat appearance.
2.
a. The action or an act of dragging, tugging, drawing, hauling, etc., esp. with force or effort. Also with adverbs.
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the world > movement > impelling or driving > pushing and pulling > [noun] > pulling
drawingc1300
draughta1398
pullinga1425
draggingc1440
halingc1440
lugging?a1500
attraction1578
toilingc1600
trainage1611
hale1615
traction1615
hauling1626
trail1674
tracting1780
haulage1826
pull1833
drawal1936
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 1746 Thanne tok I with myn hondis tweie The arowe and ful fast out it plighte, And in the pullyng sore I sighte.
a1464 J. Capgrave Abbreuiacion of Cron. (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 93 The kyng was bysy to pulle him fro þe bord, and þe oþir, in his pulling, gorid þe kyng and scaped withoute harm.
1525 tr. H. von Brunschwig Noble Experyence Vertuous Handy Warke Surg. lxv. sig. O.iii/1 In the pullynge set the bone euen agayne and vpon the other.
1562 in Shropshire Parish Doctuments. (1903) 61 For polyng downe of the rode loft iiis.
1634 in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500–1700 (1998) 139 And dureinge all the tyme of their soe pullinge, they made such fowle faces.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity ii. 38 What forced pullings and drawings to make proper terms to stretch for the covering and palliating unproper actions.
a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) IX. 139 He that would make the rigours of the sabbath give way to the pulling of an ox or a sheep out of the ditch.
1796 F. Burney Camilla I. ii. ii. 160 I have not the most remote conception how he will bear the pulling and jostling about.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 270 Lime rubbish from the pulling down of old houses.
1860 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. at Extension The pulling of a fractured limb in a direction away from the trunk.
1923 C. M. Malfroy Small Sawmills 39 The pulling of a log endwise along the ground by wire-rope haul, bullock-team, or other power.
1965 Wellsboro (Pa.) Gaz. 8 July If you reach to the right, there is an automatic pulling downward by the left hand so that the car is steered..to the left.
2005 Prince George (Brit. Columbia) Citizen (Nexis) 25 June 35 With cables connected to the house, pulling started again, but the cable snapped.
b. In various spec. uses, corresponding to senses of the verb.
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1676 J. Moxon Regulæ Trium Ordinum 2 The pulling off at the Press.
1866 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 84 The arraigning of a ship's officers before the courts by the crew to answer for alleged cruelties practiced upon them on the high seas—such as the ‘pulling’ of captains and mates by the crews of the Mercury.
1875 ‘R. H. Blake-Humfrey’ Eton Boating Bk. (ed. 2) 54 (note) Silver Oars and Steerage [were given] to the winners of the Pulling.
1894 W. T. Stead If Christ came to Chicago 371 The present system of arbitrary pulling is simply a regulation system under the mask of arbitrary arrest.
1899 W. G. Grace in Westm. Gaz. 2 Aug. 2/1 They should be severely reprimanded if they show any tendency towards pulling [in cricket].
1947 P. Newton Wayleggo 154 The act of a heading dog bringing sheep back to his master is termed pulling.
1960 G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. 333/2 Pulling, the removal of the cover, boards, end papers, tapes, and any lining material which, with the softening of old glue and cutting of sewing threads, are necessary stages in the preparation of a book for rebinding.
1964 J. Boros How to win at Weekend Golf 125 Pulling happens when the clubhead strikes the ball squarely but on an outside-in arc.
1995 Mod. Philol. 92 517 The stages of the publishing process: the delivery of the manuscript, the work of the compositors, the pulling of proofs, [etc.].
c. The action of pull v. 15c; straining against the bit.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > habits and actions of horse > [noun] > pulling against bit
pulling1853
1853 Times 5 July 3/5 [He] was by the hard pulling of his horse, or his own ardour, or by both, carried so far that before he could dismount and get to his place the gun was already in action.
1907 Cavalry Training (War Office) iii. §84 The usual causes of pulling are:—Excitability, Pain, Fear, Freshness and want of work, Hard mouth, Bad breaking.
1946 Times 28 Sept. 8/2 He took hold of his bit strongly and wasted some of his stamina in pulling.
2004 Gold Coast Bull. (Australia) (Nexis) 29 May 164 The jockey knows her traits and fierce pulling habits only too well.
d. Horse Racing. The action of reining in a horse in order to lose a race deliberately. Cf. pull v. 27.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [noun] > actions of rider
pull1705
roping1854
pulling1862
1822 Times 30 Nov. 3/2 The pulling up of the horses necessarily raised the poll of the carriage.]
1862 Times 2 Jan. 8/5 The public ‘pulling’ of horses is too dangerous a precedent to be frequently resorted to.
1888 Daily News 30 June 5/1 He strenuously denied every allegation of pulling.
1947 W. G. Bebbington Rogues Go Racing xiii. 72 Time after time ‘dead-certs’ finished down the course, and the crowds often demonstrated against the jockeys involved, thinking they had deliberately given the race away by bad riding or ‘pulling’.
2002 Spectator (Nexis) 22 June 62 The programme was called ‘They fix races, don't they?’, a title which implied a conspiratorial pulling of horses by corrupt jockeys to achieve predetermined results.
e. British slang. The action of picking up a sexual partner. Cf. pull v. 12a.
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1975 J. Pidgeon Flame ii. 24 Jack Daniels and the D.T.s liked the Jackoranda. They didn't care much for the cramped stage..and the money was always lousy. But it was the best place they knew for pulling.
1991 Rage 13 Feb. (Sex Suppl.) 10 Asking someone ‘How many O' levels have you got?’ won't help you score too often. Try following Belinda Jones' exclusive guide to pulling.
2006 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 23 Apr. 66 School discos and pulling always meant wearing the flecked trousers.
3. In plural. That which is, has been, or may be pulled.
a. pullings-out n. portions of the lining of a garment which have been drawn out (esp. through slashes in the sleeves) for display; cf. to pull out 1b at pull v. Phrasal verbs, puller n. 2. Now historical.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > lining > other
pullings-out1560
shearling1971
1560 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 23 Sarcenet... Imployed into x of the Irisshe mens Shertes... And After that agayne translated into lyninge pullinges oute tuftes tyringes and other garnisshinge.
1564 in H. A. Lee-Dillon Fairholt's Costume in Eng. (ed. 3) II. (Gloss.) s.v. Two pullingsowte of blake cipers wrought with Venice gold.
1909 G. Clinch Eng. Costume vii. 88 The outer cloak, the jacket or tunic, trunks, nether hose, and cap are all of black colour, some of them being slashed, or rather decorated, with pullings-out of crimson.
1981 M. S. Byrne Lisle Lett. IV. 487 He has several pairs of hose with pullings-out of black and violet taffeta.
b. Pieces of something (as crops, pasturage, etc.) which have been plucked or pulled up. Now rare.
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1799 A. Young Agric. Lincoln vii. 162 Seldom any pullings, called snufflings of flax.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Poolins, the fat which is stripped or pooled off the intestines of a slaughtered animal.
1865 H. H. Dixon Field & Fern: North 333 They've [sc. horses have] fat backs, but they've only the pullings of the field and good constitutions to digest them.
1914 J. J. Mann Round World in Motor Car 143 A man was making rope out of the pullings of the ponies' tails.
1934 T. Hennell Change in Farm iii. 20 An old farmer..made all the rope..on his farm with the pullings of the horses' tails.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive, in the sense ‘for pulling’, as pulling hook, pulling rope, etc.
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1558 in F. G. Emmison Essex Wills (1982) (modernized text) I. 210 To my wife..a ladder, 2 wimbles, a chisel, a pulling hook, an adze, [etc.].
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 14v A pulling hooke handsome, for bushes & broome.
1704 Inventory 12 Apr. in D.P. Dymond & A. Betterton Lavenham: 700 Years of Textile Making (1982) 94 In the Corne Chamber..A pulling hooke Carpenters Tooles.
1775 N. Kent Hints to Gentlemen 149 The [hop] poles are drawn with an instrument..called a pulling hook.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 430/1 I took 15s...for waterloo crackers and ball crackers (the common trade names), ‘waterloo’ being the ‘pulling crackers’.
1886 Harper's Mag. June 93/2 The paste [for candy] then goes to the ‘pulling-hooks’, where for five or six minutes it is pulled and twisted and repulled and retwisted.
1895 R. Kipling in Pall Mall Gaz. 25 Oct. She took the pulling-rope, and stepped out boldly at the boy's side.
1938 A. E. Clayton Performance & Design Direct Current Machines (ed. 2) xiv. 290 The coil is..formed into the correct shape on a special ‘pulling machine’.
2005 Mid-Atlantic Constr. (Nexis) 1 May 38 After hearing about a pulling rope called Custom Rope, he drove to Kiowa to ask if it would work any better in pulling his machine out of the mud.
b. In the sense ‘moved by oars, rowing-’, as pulling boat, pulling launch, etc.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels propelled by oars or poles > [noun] > rowing boat
rowboat1502
rowing boat1515
oars1598
pulling boat1832
pull-away1939
oary boat1985
1832 M. Scott Tom Cringle in Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 761/2 He was a great boat-racer, constantly building and altering gigs, and pulling-boats.
1871 Times 10 Aug. 8/1 No boat could stem it [sc. the current], and the whole of the pulling launches had to be towed up.
1894 Times 7 July 7/5 The gun was afterwards put on board an ordinary pulling pinnace.
1975 Country Life 2 Jan. 23/2 The RNLI..displays the former Whitby No. 2 lifeboat..the last pulling boat to have been in the service of the Institution.
2004 E. Michael Beyond Pendowry Water xvii. 125 Lying at anchor was a dilapidated fishing boat,..and, rubbing against her old tyre fenders, was a pulling dinghy in no better condition.
C2. † pulling clock n. Obsolete a clock operated by weights; = weight-clock n. at weight n.1 Compounds 3.† pulling-tree n. English regional Obsolete = swingletree n. 2.
pulling bar n. = drawbar n. 3.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > coupling > draw-bar
pulling bar1858
rod1894
1858 Sci. Amer. 3 Apr. 234/4 Combining the same with the brake..and with the sliding buffer or pulling bar.
1892 J. G. A. Meyer Mod. Locomotive Constr. 528 Fig. 850 shows the wrought-iron pulling-bar which connects the tender to the engine.
1981 Wellsboro (Pa.) Gaz. 5 Aug. 4/6 (caption) Their efforts resulted in breaking the pulling bar and then one of the animals stepped outside the permitted line during a pull disqualifying the team.
pulling bone n. U.S. regional (southern and south Midland) and English regional = wishbone n. 1 Cf. pully-bone n.
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the world > animals > birds > bones > [noun] > furcula or wishbone
froshell1486
merrythought1598
craw-bone1611
skipjack1805
furculum1833
fourchette1854
furcula1859
wishbone1860
pulling bone1877
pully-bone1897
skip-bone1901
pull-bonea1903
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > fowls > [noun] > cuts or parts of fowl
wingc1470
soul?a1475
giblet1546
merrythought1598
sideman1632
sidesman1642
drumstick1646
pinion1655
side bone1712
chicken liver1733
pope's nose1788
liver wing1796
apron1807
parson's nose1836
stumps1845
oyster1855
supreme1856
wishbone1860
pulling bone1877
carcass1883
pully-bone1897
pull-bonea1903
chicken breast1941
chicken tender1955
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > [noun] > magical object > for making wish > wishbone
merrythought1598
wishbone1860
pulling bone1877
pully-bone1897
pull-bonea1903
1877 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 4) Pulling-bone, the common name in Maryland, Virginia, &c., for the yoke-like breast-bone of chickens, by pulling which till it breaks children and young ladies settle which will be the first married.
1882 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. Pooling bone, same as Draw-bone.
1967 E. Jenkinson What Is Language? 156 I like the piece of chicken that has the pulling bone.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > other types of clock
watch-clock1592
German clock1598
quarter clocka1631
wheel-clock1671
table clocka1684
month clock1712
astronomical clock1719
musical clock1721
repeater1725
Tompion1727
pulling clock1733
regulator1735
eight-day clock1741
regulator clock1750
French clock1757
repetition clock1765
day clock1766
striker1778
chiming clock1789
cuckoo-clock1789
night clock1823
telltale1827
carriage clock1828
fly-clock1830
steeple clock1830
telltale clock1832
skeleton clock1842
telegraph clock1842
star clock1850
weight-clock1850
prison clock1853
crystal clock1854
pillar scroll top clock1860
sheep's-head clock1872
presentation clock1875
pillar clock1880
stop-clock1881
Waterbury1882
calendar-clock1884
ting-tang clock1884
birdcage clock1886
sheep's head1887
perpetual calendar1892
bracket clock1894
Act of Parliament clock1899
cartel clock1899
banjo-clock1903
master clock1904
lantern clock1913
time clock1919
evolutionary clock1922
lancet clock1922
atomic clock1927
quartz clock1934
clock radio1946
real-time clock1953
organ clock1956
molecular clock1974
travelling clock2014
1733 E. Budgell Bee I. 37 I do give and devise to Mr. John Mills..my Pulling Clock in my Bed Chamber.
pulling jack n. a hydraulic device designed to lift or pull heavy weights.
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1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1820/2 Pulling-jack, a hydraulic device for lifting or pulling heavy weights.
1998 Tunnels & Tunnelling Internat. (Nexis) Mar. 50 There is an exploratory probe and three pulling jacks with a tensile force of 500kN each.
pulling-knife n. rare = fleshing-knife n. at fleshing n. Compounds.
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1909 N.E.D. at Pull v. In Tanning, To remove the hair or wool from (hides or skins) with a pulling-knife.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > swingle-tree
swing-tree1396
swingletree1483
spring-tree1600
bridge tree1607
whippin1697
whippletree1733
cross-tree1765
splinter-bar1765
swindle-tree1801
shackle-bar1834
whiffletree1842
heel tree1846
single-tree1847
swingle-bar1849
pulling-tree1895
trace-block1900
1895 W. Rye Gloss. Words E. Anglia Pulling-trees, the part [of a plough] to which the horses are attached.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pullingadj.
/ˈpʊlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpʊlɪŋ/ 1. That pulls (something or someone), in various senses. Frequently with preceding modifying word.
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the world > movement > impelling or driving > pushing and pulling > [adjective] > relating to or used in pulling > pulling
pulling1615
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [adjective] > action of rider
pulling1894
1615 W. Hull Mirrour of Majestie 48 The soule is encombred with foure back-pulling retentives.
1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 130 What do these loud complaints and pulling fears?
1693 C. Mather Wonders Invisible World 92 Grevious and Pulling Hurries to Self-Murder are none of the smallest outrages, which the Devil in his Temptations commits upon us.
1777 C. Clarke True Theory & Pract. Husbandry 353 When a fair pulling horse is in his labour, he does not measure so much in height as when he stands.
1833 Johnstone's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 37/2 Mr. Probyn was superior on a hard-pulling horse.
1894 A. Conan Doyle Mem. Sherlock Holmes 29 Sometimes it is a pulling jockey.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 6/3 The brew served by the handle-pulling damsel.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 6/1 Advertising and other forms of ‘boosting’—boosting sometimes necessary even to those who have as assets box-office-pulling names.
1930 G. Scott in C. Frederick et al. Foxhunting xxx. 293 A pulling horse is dangerous, and a big horse is not suitable.
1989 Omni Aug. 98/2 An approach to building that creates structures whose wholeness is maintained by a network of pulling forces.
2. American Football. Designating an offensive lineman who withdraws from the line of scrimmage and crosses behind it to block for a runner. Esp. in pulling guard. Cf. pull v. 36.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > types of player
side tackle1809
nose guard1852
rusher1877
goalkicker1879
quarterback1879
runner1880
quarter1883
full back1884
left guard1884
snap-back1887
snapper-back1887
running back1891
tackle1891
defensive end1897
guard1897
interferer1897
receiver1897
defensive back1898
defensive tackle1900
safety man1901
ball carrier1902
defensive lineman1902
homebrew1903
offensive lineman1905
lineman1907
returner1911
signal caller1915
rover1916
interference1920
punt returner1926
pass rusher1928
tailback1930
safety1931
blocker1935
faker1938
scatback1946
linesman1947
flanker1953
platoon player1953
corner-back1955
pulling guard1955
split end1955
return man1957
slot-back1959
strong safety1959
wide receiver1960
line-backer1961
pocket passer1963
tight end1963
run blocker1967
wideout1967
blitzer1968
1955 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 1 Sept. 29/4 [The winged-T offense] features pulling guards used for blocking behind the line of scrimmage or downfield.
1958 J. Holgate Fundamental Football iv. 27 Notice..how the pulling lineman points his toes as he steps off to his right.
1988 Gridiron Nov. 54/1 It's a very simple play in which..you bring a pulling guard to the left side of the field while everybody else blocks down.
2002 Coach & Athletic Director Dec. 42 After seeing Auburn run a toss sweep to a TE-wing side, using a pulling tackle and guard, we began experimenting with our offense.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1382adj.1615