pull [OE] A word that originally expressed a short sharp action, more like pluck [OE] or snatch [ME], all words with obscure origins. To pull the plug is to prevent something from happening or continuing. Nowadays this probably brings to mind the image of someone disconnecting an electrical device by pulling out the plug from the socket, but the plug referred to here is one found in a forerunner of the flushing toilet, used from the mid 18th century. To flush it you had to pull a stopper or plug. To pull someone’s leg, or tease them, has been used since the late 19th century, but the idea probably goes back to the 16th century, when you might pull someone by the ear, nose or sleeve to insult or make fun of them. If you pull out all the stops you make a very great effort to achieve something. The stops in this expression are the knobs or levers on a church organ which control the pipes. Pulling out all the stops will obviously result in the maximum volume possible.