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.
Drone strikes beyond the battlefield pump up market for technology to repel them.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
In April, those numbers came in at multi-year highs, with fuel prices at the pump up around 51 percent since the war began, and grocery prices at their highest level since 2023.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
But you should be strategic, not frantic, when trying to pump up your AI bona fides, writes Callum Borchers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
On Sunday, Chelsea supporters again booed players who passed the ball backwards and, after Cucurella's goal, Maresca turned to supporters and told them to pump up the volume.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2025
When I went and stood by her side, she lifted her head, looked at me, and raised a hand, once, twice, as if to pump up words.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
