Etymologically
Log in

pullover

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word pullover

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1866 Brogden, Provincial Words Lincolnshire More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origins
Old English pullianProto-Germanic *obar
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English pull
English pullover

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpʊləʊvə(ɹ)/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English pull + over,[2][3][4] after the verb phrase pull over, of which it is the noun and adjective use.[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A gap in sandhills where vehicles can be pulled over to a beach, or a rough road over a sea bank: 1866, in Brogden's Provincial Words of Lincolnshire.[2] Etymonline starts the history of the word with hats, in 1871.[4]

Semantic evolution

The Lincolnshire word for a place where vehicles were pulled over stayed regional.[2][3] In hat-making the noun meant a cover of silk or felt drawn over a hat body to form the nap, and hence a hat made in this way.[2][4] The garment sense appeared in the early 20th century, named after the way the garment goes on, by being drawn over the head.[4][2] The OED's first quotations are advertisements of 1904 for the adjective, and of 1908 and 1913 in the Manitoba Morning Free Press for the noun, the second for the knitted jumper or sweater.[2] Etymonline takes the noun as short for pullover sweater, which it dates to 1912, and finds it as a sweater in 1925.[4] The wider sense of a garment pulled on over the head or over other clothes is now rare, leaving the knitted one.[2] Bodybuilding took the word for an exercise in 1936.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1866 – a gap in sandhills or a rough road to a beach, in Lincolnshire.[2]
  • 1871 – adjective, of a hat.[4] The OED's first quotation for this is from 1877.[2]
  • 1875 – noun, a silk or felt cover drawn over a hat body.[2][4]
  • 1894 – adjective, that may be pulled over.[2]
  • 1904 – adjective, of a garment put on over the head.[2][6]
  • 1908 – noun, a garment pulled on over the head.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this noun to 1899.[6]
  • 1913 – a knitted garment for the top half of the body.[2]
  • 1936 – a bodybuilding exercise.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A garment for the upper body, especially a knitted sweater, put on by being pulled over the head: He wore a grey wool pullover under his coat.[7][6][2]
  2. (bodybuilding) An exercise in which a person lying on a bench moves a weight in an arc from in front of the head to behind it and back.[2][3]
  3. (hat-making) A silk or felt cover or nap drawn over a hat body, or a hat made with one.[2][3]
  4. (regional) In Lincolnshire, a gap in sandhills that lets vehicles reach a beach; a rough road over a sea bank.[2][3]

Adjective

  1. Of a garment, designed to be put on by pulling it over the head: a pullover hoodie.[6][2][3]
  2. Of a hat, close-fitting or made by drawing a soft cover over a frame.[2][4]
  3. (rare) Having the function of pulling something over.[3][2]

Word family

  • pullovered

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Pullover.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pullover. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·