pump up
Idioms-
Inflate with gas or air, as in This tire needs pumping up . [Late 1800s]
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Fill with enthusiasm, strength, and energy, as in The lively debate pumped us all up . Mary Wollstonecraft used this idiom in slightly different form in The Rights of Women (1792): “Lover-like phrases of pumped-up passion.”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While confidence among South Korean manufacturers remained historically subdued, firms continue to be hopeful that new products can pump up sales and output over the coming year, said Usamah Bhatti, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
These rules allow employees to seriously pump up their retirement savings, specifically by converting those after-tax savings to Roth dollars through the three-step megabackdoor Roth strategy.
From MarketWatch
He can reach back to the tunefulness of his Irish forebears, croon in an R&B falsetto, wax folky and introspective, pump up a rock anthem, deliver a perky pop chorus or flaunt the syncopated flow of a rapper.
From New York Times
On this day, Kendall is trying to pump up the market potential of Living+, dubbing it a “price-rocket.”
From New York Times
After Lake Elsinore closed access to Walker Canyon and threatened to arrest people who disobeyed, Liston said some people accused Skull Canyon Ziplines of orchestrating the closure to pump up business on their privately owned land.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
