A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

pull the plug out • pull the stops out
pull the plug out—stop working on a project, etc.; put an
end to an activity: If he is no longer updating the newsgroup
site and decided to pull the plug out, would that be the end
of the newsgroup?
pull the stops out— apply all one’s energy to the task in hand;
work as hard as possible: We believe in offering a more per-
sonal service and we pull the stops out when you need us
most.
pull-boat • pulling boat
pull-boat—
1
. (hist.) a barge or boat propelled by pulling a
rope: It is a treat to see a powerful young Dutchwoman handle
a rope on a pull-boat. 2. (U.S.) a motorized flatboat used to
draw logs over water: In the cypress swamps of Louisiana there
are employed what are known as pull-boats.
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pull-boat

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pulling boat—a small boat having a flat or rounded bottom
and rowlocks for the oars: As one who has paddled thousands
of miles facing forward in canoes I couldn’t get used to facing
aft in a pulling boat.
pump attendant • pumpman
pump attendant—a person who serves motor fuel at a garage
or gas station: Harry was pump attendant and not in charge
of mechanics.
pumpman —a man in charge of the pumps: The strikers
threaten to call out the engineers and pump-men, which
would result in the flooding of the mines.
pupil teacher • student teacher
pupil teacher —(UK hist.) a boy or girl preparing to be a
teacher, whose time was divided between teaching in an ele-
mentary school and being taught by the head teacher: The
pupil-teacher, as a rule, we fear, learns little and teaches less.
student teacher —a student of a training college teaching in
a school for a certain period as part of the curriculum: A new
attitude in the schools would encourage student teachers to
take religious education as a subsidiary subject at colleges of
education.