pull out all the stops

English

Etymology

An allusion to organ stops, which are pulled out to turn on each set of sounds in a pipe organ. When all stops are pulled out, the organ will play all variations of its sounds at once, therefore being as loud as possible.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

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Verb

pull out all the stops

1. (idiomatic) To reserve or hold back nothing.

   They pulled out all the stops for the gala wedding.

Synonyms

• (reserve nothing): empty the tank, give one's all, go all out, go the whole nine yards, go up to eleven

Translations

reserve nothing

• Finnish: tehdä kaikkensa, poistaa esteet
• French: with respect to a meal: mettre les petits plats dans les grands (fr)
• German: alle Register ziehen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: fare l'impossibile
• Spanish: poner toda la carne en el asador