pull strings

present singular third person pulls strings · participle present pulling strings · participle past pulled strings · past pulled strings · alternative pull a few strings · alternative pull some strings · alternative pull a lot of strings

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo manipulate a situation, especially by asking favours of others; to use one's influence with others to attain a desired goal.

   He has the job not because of talent, but because his dad pulled strings with the boss.

2. idiomaticintransitiveoftenpull one's stringsTo control a person, organization, or situation by operating behind the scenes, as a puppeteer controls a marionette.

   We know who pulls the strings around here.

   5 more examples

   Master of Puppets, I'm pulling your strings

   1986, “Master of Puppets”, in Metallica (music), Master of Puppets

   Mr. Brown is touchy about accusations that he is a packaged candidate, and bristles at the suggestion that Mr. Caddell pulls his strings.

   1992 April 3, Richard Berke, “The 1992 Campaign: Political Memo”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 Jul 2010

   "It may have begun that way," says a senior Pentagon official, "but as these attacks grow more numerous, you get the sense that there's someone pulling the strings at a higher level."

   2003 July 7, Michael Elliott et al., “The War That Never Ends”, in Time

   But with the lively Dos Santos pulling the strings behind strikers Pavlyuchenko and Defoe, Spurs controlled the first half without finding the breakthrough their dominance deserved.

   2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport

   "The DfT is pulling all the strings. It is making every decision. It is telling companies what they can and cannot spend, right down to very small amounts of money. That's the reason they will declare the train operators to be under public control."

   2020 July 29, Paul Clifton, “Rail nationalisation moves a step closer”, in Rail, page 8