Pull back a chair

Question

When you say "pull back a chair," does it assume necessarily the presence of the table before it?
meaning "pull it further away the table".
If so, it would be wrong to use "pull back a chair" with no table before it.
Or can it mean simply: pull the chair backwards? even with no table for it.
In re: draw back the curtains, I learned that 'back' there means draw curtains away from the window.
If 'away from a thing' apples in 'pull back a chair'too, it must mean ' pull a chair away from the table.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]When you say "pull back a chair," does it assume necessarily the presence of the table before it?[/nq]
Yes, but 'pull out a chair' is more often said.

Charles Riggs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]When you say "pull back a chair," does it assume necessarily the presence of the table before it? meaning "pull ... with no table before it. Or can it mean simply: pull the chair backwards? even with no table for it.[/nq]
It could. A chair is considered to face (forwards) the same way a person sitting in it would face. Pulling the chair in the opposite direction to that would be pulling it back. Move it back, push it back, inch it back, scoot it back different verbs are possible, it's not a fixed phrase.

"Backwards" might be used, particularly if the speaker thought there was any confusion with another sense of "back" as it "put it back where it was, return it to place." With no other context, "They moved all the chairs back" would be ambiguous.
(I believe we've learned there's some pondal distinction between "-ward" and "-wards" but I don't know which side says which they both sound fine to me.)
[nq:1]In re: draw back the curtains, I learned that 'back' there means draw curtains away from the window.[/nq]
In some people's vocabulary. If you check all the posts, you'll see that is not universal. I haven't worked out all the combinations; probably "draw back the curtains" does usually mean "open" but "draw the curtains" doesn't necessarily mean "close." A lot of people just don't use these phrases at all.
Come to think of it, you can't say "away from the window" that sounds like the cloth is being pulled away from the glass, back into the room, into the third dimension. As if you were stepping between the curtain and the glass. No, the curtain slides along the glass, but it either covers it (darkening the room) or uncovers it (exposing the room to light). The motion that uncovers the window is what some people call "drawing back the curtains."
I looked to see if it's in any children's rhymes, and it is:

Clean the brass candlesticks,
And clean the fireside,
Draw back the curtains,
And lat's see the bride.
Drawing back the curtains reveals a view of something, the sky or street or a theater stage or whatever.
[nq:1]If 'away from a thing' apples in 'pull back a chair'too, it must mean ' pull a chair away from the table.[/nq]
The curtain thing is special to curtains. And as I said, "away" is the wrong direction you don't usually pull a curtain away from the window the way you pull a chair away from a table. You could pull two curtains away from each other, though, or "apart."

Confusing, eh?

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]When you say "pull back a chair," does it assume necessarily the presence of the table before it?[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, but 'pull out a chair' is more often said.[/nq]
Or sometimes "pull up a chair".
Will.

Usenet · Answer

Do people West of the pond actually ever close their curtains? In films and series like ER I've frequently seen scenes with people lying in bed with the "drapes" open, or non-existent.

Jim
"a single species has come to dominate ...
reproducing at bacterial levels, almost as an
infectious plague envelops its host"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Yes, but 'pull out a chair' is more often said.[/nq]
[nq:1]Or sometimes "pull up a chair".[/nq]
That's the reverse - "he pulled a chair up to the table" - sometimes it's an invitation for someone to join a group or individual already seated, not necessarily at the table "Pull up a chair and sit down.".

Jim
"a single species has come to dominate ...
reproducing at bacterial levels, almost as an
infectious plague envelops its host"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]In re: draw back the curtains, I learned that 'back' there means draw curtains away from the window.[/nq]
[nq:1]In some people's vocabulary. If you check all the posts, you'll see that is not universal. I haven't worked out ... "open" but "draw the curtains" doesn't necessarily mean "close." A lot of people just don't use these phrases at all.[/nq]
Ah, but you don't need anything more than the words and the context. "Draw the curtains" means "open the curtains" if they're currently closed, or "close the curtains" if they're currently open. I would agree that "draw back the curtains" means to open them, but I would associate this with very large curtains at a grand house, where one might need to do some walking to accomplish this, and make use of a tasselled tie-back to enforce one's work.
My dear wife occasionally enjoins me to draw the curtains in the bedroom, and I know from experience that she doesn't mean for me to open them, but to make sure that they're completely closed at the top, so that dawn's early light won't wake her, even if the ankle-biters do.

Will.

Pull back a chair

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