pull out all the stops

present singular third person pulls out all the stops · participle present pulling out all the stops · participle past pulled out all the stops · past pulled out all the stops · alternative pull out all stops

1. idiomaticTo hold back or reserve nothing.

   They pulled out all the stops for the gala wedding.

   5 more examples

   To be a Christian is to be complete in all one's parts: to pull out all the stops of one's nature, and live the Christ life, so that people may say, He lives; and yet no longer he, but Christ lives in him.

   [1889], George Clarke, “The Love Life Natural”, in Bible Talks, London: Marshall Brothers, […]; Glasgow; Edinburgh: Menzies & Co., →OCLC, page 52

   [T]he entire record is a form of catharsis for its performers. One track is specifically that: the Protest section of Triptych, which Abbey Lincoln pulls out all the stops, and in a fiery release of inhibitions, screams a hair-raising Protest against all those things which a Negro must ordinarily experience in silence.

   1961 May, Ted White, “Record Reviews [Max Roach: We Insist!]”, in David Solomon, editor, Metronome, volume 78, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Metronome Corporation, →OCLC, page 35, column 1

   [George] McGovern, too, was pushing himself to the limits of his strength, pulling out all the stops on Vietnam and the Watergate affair, but through the haze of exhaustion all of his speeches sounded like one long echo of the same speech.

   1973, Timothy Crouse, “The Last Days”, in The Boys on the Bus, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 1980, →ISBN, part 3 (Covering McGovern’s Campaign), page 376

   It is curious that in the very same week as the country is pulling out all stops to celebrate one of its most cherished symbols to freedom and opportunity, it has at the same time further plugged up basic human rights of privacy for those who do not define themselves as heterosexual.

   1986 August 23, Warren Blumenfeld, “Community Voices: Liberty’s Dimmed Lamp”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 6, Boston, Mass.: The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2

   Despite missing the target to open for the Commonwealth Games, work on site hasn't slowed down. VolkerFitzpatrick and its contractors have pulled out all the stops to get the job done.

   2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University Challenge”, in Rail, number 1001, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 61

   Synonyms: empty the tank, give one's all, go all out, go balls to the wall, go the whole nine yards, go up to eleven, open the floodgates