| Idiom | Pull Out All the Stops |
|---|---|
| Example | Tonight I'm pulling out all the stops: candlelight dinner, violin music, champagne, the works! Then I'll ask her to marry me. |
| Meaning | to do everything possible to succeed; to do something as enthusiastically as you can |
| Origin | This saying comes from the second half of the 19th century and refers to the workings of big organs. Church organs had many pipes that an organist played by pulling out knobs called stops. If you pulled out all the stops, you got the fullest, loudest, most ear-filling sound possible. That idea was carried over to other activities in life where one goes all out to succeed or enjoy an activity. |
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