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Pull out all the stops

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To exert maximum effort or utilize all available resources; organ metaphor suggesting removal of all restrictions to achieve fullest possible performance or intensity in action.

Detailed Definition
Pull out all the stops means to use every available resource, effort, skill, or flourish to achieve an effect. The phrase comes from organ music, where stops control sound, making it especially resonant in poetry concerned with performance and voice. It can describe lavish celebration, desperate rescue, rhetorical intensity, or artistic bravura. A poet may use it to suggest grandeur, excess, or final effort. The idiom is useful when language, music, and emotional intensity reach their fullest possible volume.
Example
Example in poetry:
A musical poem might say the organist pulls out all the stops when joy floods the church; In a campaign poem, the rebels pull out all the stops for one final march; The phrase means to make the greatest possible effort; A poet can draw on its organ imagery for sound and grandeur.
Additional Notes
Pull out all the stops means use every available resource or effort, from organ stops that control sound. In poetry, it is especially apt for music, performance, rhetoric, celebration, and desperate action. The phrase suggests fullness, volume, and no restraint. Students should notice how a technical musical origin becomes a general image of total commitment. It can be grand, comic, excessive, or genuinely moving depending on context.
Also Known As
maximum effort
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