pulls

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of pull.

   The tugboat pulls the freighter through the narrow channel.

   A single horse pulls the loaded cart up the steep lane.

   Note

   Its spelling is shared with the plural noun, and the surrounding words tell them apart: two pulls on the cord is a count, while the engine pulls hard has a subject doing the pulling. Mind the slang. In British and Irish use, he pulls can mean he persuades someone into bed. In American slang it can mean drawing someone's romantic interest.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of pull.

   Two firm pulls on the cord finally started the old engine.

   The climbers felt sudden pulls on their safety lines from above.

   Note

   Only the countable uses of pull can be counted out like this: tugs on a cord, handles and knobs meant to be pulled, and random draws from a set. The force of attraction and the figurative sense of clout stay uncountable. Someone can have a great deal of pull, but never many pulls, and a magnet's pull does not become pulls when there are two of them.

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