English

Verb

pull back

1. Used other than as an idiom. To pull in a backwards direction
2. To retreat
   • 2010, Africasia, Birao is a garrison town near the border with Chad and Sudan

     Central African armed forces (FACA) troops were forced to pull back from the town and were planning an operation to retake it, the source said.

3. To retract
4. (transitive) to pull in order to reveal something underneath or behind.
   • 1994, Linda Winstead, Guardian Angel

     Her nightgown was thin, and she felt chilly as she stepped across the hall, pulling back the curtain that shielded Gabriel's room.

   • 2002 Dennis J. Barton, Cola Wars

     What's more, I pull back the sheets to take a quick but suspicious gander at Bunny, and she's wearing a pair of my briefs.

   • 2006, Ruth K. Westheimer, Pierre A. Lehu, Sex for Dummies

     An uncircumcised man should always take special precautions when bathing to pull back the foreskin and clean carefully around the glans.

5. (transitive, sports) To pass (the ball) into a position further from the attacking goal line.
   • December 1 2010, Paul Fletcher, BBC News, Ipswich 1-0 West Brom

     Jason Scotland should have scored after Tamas advanced purposefully down the right before pulling the ball back into the path of his team-mate, who shot straight at Myhill.

6. (transitive, sports) To score when the team is losing.
   • Feb 19 2007, Al-Jazeera, Stylish Sevilla pull level with faltering Barcelona

     Ronaldinho pulled back a goal for Barca in injury time with a classy free-kick, but it was clearly too little too late to prevent their third Liga defeat.