pull out all stops

English edit

Verb edit

pull out all stops (third-person singular simple present pulls out all stops, present participle pulling out all stops, simple past and past participle pulled out all stops)

  1. Alternative form of pull out all the stops
    • 1986 August 23, Warren Blumenfeld, “Liberty's Dimmed Lamp”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 6, page 4:
      In the very same week as the country is pulling out all stops to celebrate one of its most cherished symbols to freedom and opportunity, it has at the same time further plugged up basic human rights of privacy for those who do not define themselves as heterosexual.