\'pull off the shoulder\' - Police shouts

"pull off the shoulder" - Police shouts

This morning, An accident happened on "Exit free way" A highway patrol called shouting out "pull off the shoulder" behind

- I saw all drivers pulled off the main 2 lanes to the shoulder - park on the side of the road, free up the center lanes to let police pass through the middle road to the  front.

I've been puzzled by above: Clearly, the police wanted all drivers open up the shoulders.,i.e. stay in the middle lanes! - let him go through the shoulder - but all drivers did the opposite.

E.g., "Adults cannot seem to pull the top off of the bottle, but a kid did that - pulled the top off of the bottle."

? pull (sth./sb.) off to?

It's "pull off the shoulder" cloth -

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e.g., "He said he tried to pull off the shoulder, and Crane swerved into his driver's side door. Crane told police he grew upset when he pulled into the ..."

** ** Synonyms of pull off. accomplish, achieve, bring off, carry off, carry out, commit, compass, do, execute, follow through (with), fulfill (or fulfil), make, negotiate, perform, perpetrate, prosecute, put through.

what does"pull something off"mean?

I looked it up in the dictionary and it has several meanings below,
1. Lit. to tug or drag something off someone or something else.
2.to steer or turn a vehicle off the road.
3.to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected
1 and 2 are understandable, but it seems "pull off" has nothing to do with "success",I can not tell that there is any connection between act of "pull off" and "succeed in doing sth". could you explain it in a figurative way to let me have a image or pic in my mind? otherwise I have to learn it by rote. thanks "-)

• For learning: English
• Base language: English
• Category: Language
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• Best Answer - Chosen by the Asker

  To pull something off, is an idiom, and English idioms often do not make sense when you look at the individual parts, it is a term that just means what we have agreed to.
  
  I do not know the origin of the idiom, but I can give you a picture. Imagine a bottle with a top on it. As much as they all have tried, all of the adults in the room cannot seem to pull the top off of the bottle. A five year old comes into the room, sees what everyone's doing, walks over to the bottle and pulls the top off. Everyone says "How did you pull that off?"
  
  I used this example for two reasons, first there is a direct linkage between the first and third definitions you listed above. Second, it actually provides the usual circumstances surrounding the use of the term. When you "pull something off" you achieve something that either no one else seemed able to do or that people never expected you, specifically, to be able to accomplish. You achieved the unachievable.

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  I have some bad news for you... it's otherwise and you really do have to learn them by rote. Sorry, we call these expressions idioms and the meanings are completely different from the regular meaning. Every language has its idioms, they add wonderful color to the language which is a part of the culture just like the fashions, food and the music. Good luck!
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  **
  Agent: Oh, and for the first few games, Sir Alex may want to pull you off at half time.
  
  Kid: Pull me off? Fantastic! At Rochdale, we only got a slice of orange and a ...
  
  Pull off definition is - to carry out despite difficulties : accomplish successfully against odds. How to use pull off in a sentence.
  
  pull off. — phrasal verb with pull uk ? /p?l/ us ? /p?l/ verb. If a vehicle pulls off, it starts moving: The car pulled off and sped up the road.
  
  After about a mile, we pulled off the main road onto a dirt track. (of a vehicle) To begin moving and then move away; to pull away. As the police approached, the ...
  

pull off (phrasal verb) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/pull-off

1. Cached

to succeed in doing something that is difficult. Hanley pulled off a surprise victory in the semi-final. pull it off (=to succeed at what you are trying to do): They nearly managed to get the loan but just failed to pull it off. To succeed in doing something:succeed, manage, pull off...

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pull-off

 

?po?olôf/

noun

US

noun: pull-off; plural noun: pull-offs; noun: pulloff; plural noun: pulloffs

1. an area on the side of a road where vehicles may pull off the road and stop.

   "park at one of the many roadside pull-offs"