pull oneself together

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

pull oneself together (third-person singular simple present pulls oneself together, present participle pulling oneself together, simple past and past participle pulled oneself together)

1. (idiomatic, reflexive) To become mentally focused after a period of being unfocused; to regain control of oneself
   • 1910, E. M. Forster, chapter 6, in Howards End:

     "Damn, damn, damnation!" he murmured, together with such other words as he had learnt from older men. Then he raised his hand to his forehead and said, "Oh, damn it all—" which meant something different. He pulled himself together. He drank a little tea, black and silent, that still survived upon an upper shelf. He swallowed some dusty crumbs of cake. Then he went back to the sitting-room, settled himself anew, and began to read a volume of Ruskin.

Synonyms

• pull one's shit together

Translations

to become mentally focused after a period of being unfocused

• Azerbaijani: özünü yığışdırmaq
• Bulgarian: идвам на себе си (idvam na sebe si)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 振作起來 / 振作起来 (zhènzuò qǐlái), 鎮定下來 / 镇定下来 (zhèndìng xiàlái)

• Finnish: ryhdistäytyä (fi), koota itsensä
• French: se ressaisir (fr)
• German: sich zusammenreißen (de)
• Hungarian: összeszedi magát
• Icelandic: stramma sig af
• Japanese: 気を取り直す (きをとりなおす, ki o torinaosu)
• Latin: mē recolligō
• Polish: brać się w garść, wziąć się w garść pf
• Portuguese: recompor-se
• Romanian: aduna (ro), reveni (ro)
• Russian: приходи́ть в себя́ impf (prixodítʹ v sebjá), прийти́ в себя́ (ru) pf (prijtí v sebjá), собира́ться (ru) impf (sobirátʹsja), собра́ться (ru) pf (sobrátʹsja), брать себя́ в ру́ки impf (bratʹ sebjá v rúki), взять себя́ в ру́ки (ru) pf (vzjatʹ sebjá v rúki)
• Spanish: recobrar la compostura, recomponerse
• Swedish: samla sig (sv), skärpa sig