pull strings

[ string ]

SEE DEFINITION OF pull strings

as ininfluence
as inlobby
as inmachinate
as inmanage
as inmaneuver
as inmanipulate
as inoperate
as inorder
as inpreside
as inrun
as inone-up
as inadminister
as inengineer
as infavor
as infinesse
as infix
as ingovern

Synonyms for pull strings

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Antonyms for pull strings

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EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR PULL STRINGS

After some anxious thought he decided that it was his duty to try to pull strings.

It's the only way; you're too drunk to pull strings with that pardner o' yours, and we're goin' to stand by you, see?

They hop with the most confident air, and day after day pull strings out of the ground.

And the first thing to do was to assume direction of the police, to pull strings, to engineer matters.

She was still able to pull strings, and to make her influence felt in various directions.

I want to pull strings, even for somebody else, or be Princetonian chairman or Triangle president.

WORD ORIGIN

Old English streng "line, cord, thread," from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (cf. Old Norse strengr, Danish streng, Middle Dutch strenge, Dutch streng, Old High German strang, German Strang "rope, cord"), from *strang- "taut, stiff," from PIE root *strenk- "tight, narrow; pull tight, twist" (see strain). Gradually restricted by early Middle English to lines that are smaller than a rope. Sense of "a number of objects arranged in a line" first recorded late 15c.

Old English meaning "ligaments, tendons" is preserved in hamstring, heartstrings. Meaning "limitations, stipulations" (1888) is American English, probably from the common April Fool's joke of leaving a purse that looks full of money on the sidewalk, then tugging it away with an attached string when someone stoops to pick it up. To pull strings "control the course of affairs" (1860) is from the notion of puppet theater. First string, second string, etc. in athletics (1863) is from archers' custom of carrying spare bowstrings in the event that one breaks. Strings "stringed instruments" is attested from mid-14c. String bean is from 1759; string bikini is from 1974.

pull strings

EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR PULL STRINGS

WORD ORIGIN

MORE RELATED WORDS FOR PULL STRINGS

engineer

engineered

favor

favoring

finesse

finessing