Etymology Edit

An allusion to organ stops, which are pulled out to turn on each set of sounds in a pipe organ. When all stops are pulled out, the organ will play all variations of its sounds at once, therefore being as loud as possible.

Pronunciation Edit

Audio (AU)

Verb Edit

pull out all the stops (third-person singular simple present pulls out all the stops, present participle pulling out all the stops, simple past and past participle pulled out all the stops)

( idiomatic ) To reserve or hold back nothing. They pulled out all the stops for the gala wedding.

Synonyms Edit