verb (used with object) 1. to draw or haul toward oneself or itself, in a particular direction, or into a particular position: to pull a sled up a hill. 2. to draw or tug at with force. 3. to rend or tear: to pull a cloth to pieces.
The Love and Rayleigh waves (collectively known as surface waves) are the slowest moving but most damaging of the seismic waves.
P and S waves may seem like shaky business, but the waves that really do damage are the ones that occur when the energy of the quake reaches the surface of the earth. Rayleigh waves churn over and under like rolling ocean waves; Love waves shake the earth from side to side.