pull the plug

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To unplug or cut power to a machine.

   Shut off the machine and pull the plug.

   He put an end to the loud music by pulling the plug.

2. (intransitive, informal) To turn off life support.
3. (informal, transitive with on) To cease to support; to halt.

   It's a wonder the director didn't pull the plug on that project months ago.

   • 2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, pages 42–43:

     "We have a deal that stopped me pulling the plug on services. But only just. I was hours from having to stop the Underground and buses from running in this, the greatest city on Earth. How insane is that? How could that even be allowed to happen?
     "I waited until five to midnight on the day when I would have had to pull the plug for the next day, before I got the letter from the Government on an interim funding settlement.

4. (intransitive, informal) To cease production or publication.

Translations

unplug, cut power — see also unplug

• Cherokee: ᎫᏓᎴᎠ (gudalea)
• Danish: trække stikket
• Finnish: katkaista virta
• German: den Stecker ziehen
• Korean: 플러그를 뽑다 (peulleogeureul ppopda)
• Maori: koti
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trekke ut proppen, trekke ut kontakten

• Romanian: scoate din priză
• Welsh: tynnu plwg

cease to support, halt

• Finnish: lakkauttaa (fi), lopettaa (fi)
• French: débrancher la prise
• German: den Garaus machen, den Stecker ziehen
• Italian: staccare la spina
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trekke ut kontakten

• Polish: przestawać wspierać impf, przestać wspierać pf, zatrzymywać (pl) impf, zatrzymać (pl) pf
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can

References

• “pull the plug”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.