pull out of the fire

English

Alternative forms

• pull from the fire

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

pull out of the fire (third-person singular simple present pulls out of the fire, present participle pulling out of the fire, simple past and past participle pulled out of the fire)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To save from impending failure, destruction, or defeat.
   • 1929 August 19, “Sport: Alexander the Great”, in Time:

     But there was another, keener reason why Pitcher Alexander wanted to pull this game out of the fire, which he proceeded to do by holding Philadelphia scoreless for four innings while his St. Louis clubmates made three more runs.

   • 1990 January 28, “Lewis Mumford, a Visionary Social Critic, Dies at 94”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 October 2011:

     "He is the writer of fresh possibilities, . . . of the clarion call to halt the current madness and pull the world out of the fire," wrote Joseph Epstein, the social critic.

   • 1999, Marge Piercy, Three Women, published 2001, →ISBN, page 40:

     She had pulled more than one case out of the fire with a brilliant closing.

Synonyms

• redeem, rescue, save

Derived terms

• pull someone's bacon out of the fire
• pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire
• pull someone's fat out of the fire

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: pelastaa kiipelistä
• Spanish: salvar los muebles

References

• “pull out of the fire”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.