pull back

Verb

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. - 1994, Linda Winstead, Guardian Angel:
   • 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. - 2002, Dennis J. Barton, Cola Wars:
   • An uncircumcised man should always take special precautions when bathing to pull back the foreskin and clean carefully around the glans. - 2006, Ruth K. Westheimer, Pierre A. Lehu, Sex for Dummies:
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. - 2010, Africasia, Birao is a garrison town near the border with Chad and...
3. To 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...
4. To 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...