pull backverb

• 1

  Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pull, back.

  • Her nightgown was thin, and she felt chilly as she stepped across the hall, pulling back the curtain that shielded Gabriel's room.
  • 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.
• 2

  To retreat.

  • 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

  hobbieslifestylesportsTo 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.
• 4

  hobbieslifestylesportsTo 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.