引く
hi-ku
In Japanese you pull a cold toward you
The picture You pull something from over there toward yourself. Pulling can bring it in, or pull it away from a total. 引く draws what is over there toward you; 押す sends your force from here over there.
Where the picture shows up in 引く
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Pulling it toward you
このドアは引いて開けます。
kono doa wa hiite ake-masu
You pull this door to open it.
A hand takes the door handle and draws it toward your chest until the door opens.
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Pulling something bad into you
風邪を引いてしまいました。
kaze o hiite shimai-mashita
I have caught a cold.
A cold drifting in the air is drawn in with your breath and into your body.
The picture is you pulling the cold over to your side.
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Pulling it off the price
十パーセント引きますね。
jup-pāsento hiki-masu ne
I will take ten percent off for you.
A chunk is pulled off the number on the price tag and dragged to the side.
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Pulling a word out of a book
辞書を引いて調べます。
jisho o hiite shirabe-masu
I look it up in the dictionary.
Your finger pins the word you wanted on the dictionary page and pulls it out.
Not searching but pulling the word you need out of the book.
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Receding like water
熱が引くまで休んでください。
netsu ga hiku made yasunde kudasai
Rest until the fever goes down.
The heat that had risen to your face pulls back like a tide going out.
All of it in one picture
引く is one arrow pointing toward you. Pull the handle and the door opens; pull a cold in with your breath and you have caught it; pull a chunk off the price and it is a discount; pull a word out of the dictionary and you have looked it up; let the heat pull back like a tide and the fever is down. Sometimes the pull brings something in and sometimes it takes something away, but the direction never changes: from over there to here.