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Pull the plug

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 terminate or stop something abruptly; electrical metaphor describing disconnection of power supply, now applied to ending projects, relationships, or activities suddenly and definitively.

Detailed Definition
Pull the plug means to stop, cancel, end, or withdraw support from something, especially a project, machine, plan, or life-sustaining system. In poetry, the idiom can be practical, comic, bureaucratic, or deeply grave. It suggests dependence on power, funding, breath, or artificial continuation. A poet may use it for failed enterprises, broken relationships, medical decisions, or silenced voices. The phrase is powerful because a small action can end a complex system, raising questions about control and mercy.
Example
Example in poetry:
A modern elegy might say the doctors pulled the plug when hope had gone silent; In a political satire, the council pulls the plug on the festival to save money; The phrase means to stop support, funding, or life-sustaining treatment; A poet should use it with sensitivity when death is involved.
Additional Notes
Pull the plug means stop something abruptly, originally by disconnecting electrical power or, more gravely, life-support equipment. In poetry, it can describe endings imposed on projects, relationships, performances, machines, or lives. The phrase is modern, stark, and often final. Students should consider who has the authority to stop the current. It pairs well with light, silence, hospitals, wires, drains, and sudden darkness.
Also Known As
stop
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