Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Pull in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels pull as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Pull

[AS. pullian; cf. LG. pulen, and Gael. peall, piol, spiol.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordpull
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[AS. pullian; cf. LG. pulen, and Gael. peall, piol, spiol.]
Selected historical definitionTo draw, or attempt to draw, toward one; to draw forcibly.
Signed record IDwebster1913-pull-verb-5c15c99a63b4
Source locatorCIDE.P, paragraph 17509; Gutenberg eBook 666
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 666Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "pull" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[AS. pullian; cf. LG. pulen, and Gael. peall, piol, spiol.]" The selected historical definition says: "To draw, or attempt to draw, toward one; to draw forcibly."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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Webster 1913 exact record

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