English

Alternative forms

• pull from the fire

Verb

pull out of the fire

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To save from impending failure, destruction, or defeat.
   • 1929 Aug. 19, "Sport: Alexander the Great," 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 Jan. 28, "Lewis Mumford, a Visionary Social Critic, Dies at 94," New York Times (retrieved 23 Oct 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 (2001 edition), ISBN 9780060937027, p. 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

References

• pull out of the fire at OneLook Dictionary Search