Pullage

Pullage is an English noun that denotes the act of pulling or the extent or amount of pulling required to move a load. It is a relatively obscure term in modern standard English and tends to appear in historical, dialectal, or technical texts rather than everyday usage. Because of its rarity, pullage can have slightly varying senses depending on context, but the core idea remains focused on pulling action or the capacity to pull.

In technical or mechanical contexts, pullage may be used to describe the force or effort needed to move something, or the “pullage” a device can exert to haul a load. In historical or agricultural literature, the term can appear in descriptions of manual or rope-based work, often with a sense closely aligned to “pull” or “drag.” Its exact interpretation is typically clarified by surrounding terms, and it is commonly superseded by more specific words such as pull, traction, or haulage in contemporary writing.

Etymology-wise, pullage is formed from the verb pull with the noun suffix -age, a productive English construction used to signify action, process, or result. The word’s use today is largely confined to linguistic, historical, or niche technical discussions, where precise nuance is guided by context.

See also: pull, traction, haulage, drag, yank.