pull out all the stops

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.

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

pull out all the stops (third-person singular simple present pulls out all the stops, present participle pulling out all the stops, simple past and past participle pulled out all the stops)

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

   They pulled out all the stops for the gala wedding.

   • 2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 61:

     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.

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