c. 1811. Broadside Ballad [Farmer, Musa Pedestris (1896), 77]. He had twice been pull'd, and nearly lagg'd, but got off by going to sea.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Pull . . . To pull a man, or have him pulled is to cause his apprehension for some offence; and it is then said that Mr. Pullen is concerned.
1836. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 82. The loquacious little gentleman . . . finding that he had already paid more than he ought, avowed his unalterable determination to pull up the cabman in the morning.
1871. Figaro, 15 April. The police pulled every Keno establishment in the city. Pulling is the slang for seizing the instruments, and arresting the players and proprietors.
4. (racing).—To slow a horse, while seeming to ride one's best.
1868. Ouida, Two Flags, x. They . . . had broken down like any . . . jockey bribed to pull at a suburban selling-race.
1889. Evening Standard, 25 June. [Sir Chas. Russell's speech in Durham-Chetwynd case]. Sir G. Chetwynd never did anything so gross and vulgar as that [tell the jockey to pull horses], and that if horses were pulled, that was not the way in which in any class of turf society instructions were given.
1890. Sat. Rev., 1 Feb., 134, 1. They all bet, and when they lose of course it is the fault of the jockey, or of the trainer, or of the owner, who gave instructions to have his horse pulled.
1891. Gould, Double Event, 102. Wells had pulled horses when no one but a thorough judge could have seen the game.
5. (old).—To steal; to cheat.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, Prologue, 654. Ful prively a finch [= novice] eke coude he pull.
1625. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1. What plover's that they've brought to pull.
1821. Haggart, Life, 63. I pulled a scout, and passed it to Graham.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1. 460. We lived by thieving and I do still—by pulling flesh
The Long pull, subs. phr. (licensed victuallers').—See quot.
1901. D. Telegraph, 24 Dec., 3, 4. The attempt to abolish the long pull made by the Birmingham brewers has ended in failure. . . . The result was seen in decreased profits. Customers left their houses and patronised others where over-measure was given.
Colloquialisms are:—To pull down, 1. (thieves': see quot. 1857); (2) to destroy, to depress, to endanger chances; to pull in the pieces = to make money: Fr. faire son beurre; to pull it (or foot) = to decamp: see Amputate and Skedaddle; to pull through = to succeed, to get out of a difficulty; to pull together = to co-operate; to pull up = (1) to take to task, to arrest, to stop; (2) to exert oneself, to make a special effort; to pull faces = to grimace; to pull a long face = to look blue (q.v.); to pull off = to succeed; to get there (q.v.); to pull oneself together = to rouse oneself; to rally; to pull (or draw) in one's horns = to retract; to cool down (Grose, 1785); to pull down a side = to spoil all; to pull by the sleeve = to remind; to pull out (American) = (1) to chuck (q.v.); 2 (athletic) = to strive to the utmost, to extend (q.v.), usually by means of a friendly pace-maker; 3 (common) = to run away; 4 (tailors') = to hurry, to get on with work in hand; to pull up a Jack (see quot. 1819); to pull a kite = to be serious, to look straight (q.v.); to pull one's (or draw) the leg = to impose upon, to bamboozle (q.v.), to chaff (q.v.); to pull about = (1) to masturbate: see Frig, and (2)
