pull-up

See also: pullup and pull up

English

Man doing a pull-up which becomes a chin-up once his chin passes over the bar.

Alternative forms

• pullup, pull up

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊl.ʌp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Deverbal from pull up.

Noun

pull-up (plural pull-ups)

1. An exercise done for strengthening the arms and back in which one lifts one's own weight while hanging from a bar. Palms may be facing in any direction.
   • 1978 Physical Fitness Research Digest page 3

     DeWitt compared the average number of pullups college men can do grasping the bar with palms toward the face (supinated) and palms away from the face (pronated), and with kicking and kipping while raising the body. The subjects averaged 2.08 more pullups with the palms supinated than with the palms pronated.

   • 1983, An Electromyographic Study of the Latissimus Dorsi and Pectoralis Major During the Performance of Pronated and Supinated Pull-ups‎^[1]:
   • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii

     I did lots of push-ups and pull-ups, and my only regret is that I stopped doing them as a young adult when I finally got to work out in health clubs instead of my basement or garage.

Coordinate terms

• chin-up
• muscle-up

 

Derived terms

• Australian pull-up
• pull-up bar

 

Related terms

• pull-up boy
• push-up
• sit-up

 

Translations

an exercise done for strengthening the arms and back

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 引體上升 (jan⁵ tai² soeng⁶ sing¹)

  Mandarin: 引體向上 / 引体向上 (zh) (yǐntǐxiàngshàng)

• Czech: shyb m
• Danish: kropshævning c
• Estonian: lõuatõmme
• Finnish: leuanveto (fi)
• French: traction (fr) f
• German: Klimmzug (de) m
• Greek: έλξη (el) f (élxi)
• Hungarian: húzódzkodás (hu)
• Italian: trazione alla sbarra f
• Japanese: 懸垂 (ja) (けんすい, kensui)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: prisitraukimas m
• Polish: podciąganie się na drążku n
• Romanian: tracțiune (ro) f
• Russian: подтя́гивание (ru) n (podtjágivanije)
• Serbo-Croatian: zgib (sh) m, згиб m
• Spanish: barbilla (es) f, ejercicio de tracción m, dominada (es) f
• Swedish: räckhäv c
• Tagalog: pagbabaras
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: barfiks (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Verb

pull-up (third-person singular simple present pull-ups, present participle pull-upping, simple past and past participle pull-upped)

1. To do a pull-up or pull oneself up similarly.
   • 2012, The Young Despondents. Jason M. Burns.

     With a sleek yet muscular build, Nick out pullupped everyone during physical fitness week

   • 2010, Designation Gold Rogue Warrior. Richard Marcinko

     From there, things were easy—well, relatively easy. I stood on the rail, reached up, grasped the floor of the balcony above, fingertip pull-upped onto the lip, found another four inches of finger purchase, raised myself high enough […]

Etymology 2

Genericized trademark: from the Pull-Ups brand of training pants sold by Huggies.

Noun

pull-up (plural pull-ups)

1. Synonym of training pants (“undergarments worn by incontinent people, typically infants, to aid in toilet training during the transition between diapers and underpants”).

Etymology 3

Clipping.

Noun

pull-up (plural pull-ups)

1. (electronics) A pull-up resistor.