draw up — come to a stop
to arrive and stop, especially referring to a vehicle or a person approaching and halting, often used in formal or narrative contexts.
Say it like a native
Textbook A vehicle approached and came to a halt outside the house.
Native A car drew up outside the house.
'Draw up' is the literary verb for a vehicle pulling in and stopping; it lives in narrative prose.
Pattern: draw up (to/at something) | draw up + vehicle/person
In use
- A sleek black limousine drew up outside the hotel entrance, attracting everyone's attention.transport
- As the bus drew up to the crowded stop, passengers began to gather their belongings in preparation to board.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ A taxi drew up to the entrance.
✓ A taxi drew up outside the entrance. / A taxi pulled up at the entrance.
'Draw up' is intransitive — it doesn't take 'to the entrance'.
Common collocations
draw up + location— outside, at the kerb, alongside, in front
Don't confuse it
This sense is different from the B2 meaning of 'draw up' (to prepare a document). Here, it refers to the physical act of arriving and stopping, not to writing or organizing something.
Related
- draw up (prepare a document) — 'draw up' also has the more basic meaning 'prepare a document'; this is the advanced sense.