pump

¹ American  

[puhmp] / pʌmp /

noun

1. an apparatus or machine for raising, driving, exhausting, or compressing fluids or gases by means of a piston, plunger, or set of rotating vanes.

2. Engineering, Building Trades. a shore having a jackscrew in its foot for adjusting the length or for bearing more firmly against the structure to be sustained.

3. Biology. an animal organ that propels fluid through the body; heart.

4. Cell Biology. a system that supplies energy for transport against a chemical gradient, as the sodium pump for the transfer of sodium and potassium ions across a cell membrane.

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verb (used with object)

• pumps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pumped,
  past participle,  past
• pumping
  present participle

1. to raise, drive, etc., with a pump.

2. to free from water or other liquid by means of a pump.

3. to inflate by pumping (often followed byup ).

   to pump a tire up.

4. to operate or move by an up-and-down or back-and-forth action.

5. to supply with air, as an organ, by means of a pumplike device.

6. to drive, force, etc., as if from a pump.

   He rapidly pumped a dozen shots into the bull's-eye.

7. to supply or inject as if by using a pump.

   to pump money into a failing business.

8. to question artfully or persistently to elicit information.

   to pump someone for confidential information.

9. to elicit (information) by questioning.

verb (used without object)

• pumps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pumped,
  past participle,  past
• pumping
  present participle

1. to work a pump; raise or move water, oil, etc., with a pump.

2. to operate as a pump does.

3. to move up and down like a pump handle.

4. to exert oneself in a manner likened to pumping.

   He pumped away at his homework all evening.

5. to seek to elicit information from a person.

6. to come out in spurts.

verb phrase

1. pump up

   1. to inflate.

   2. to increase, heighten, or strengthen; put more effort into or emphasis on; intensify.

      The store has decided to pump up its advertising.

   3. to infuse with enthusiasm, competitive spirit, energy, etc..

      The contestants were all backstage pumping themselves up for their big moment.

idioms

1. pump iron. iron.

2. prime the pump,

   1. to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy.

   2. to support or promote the operation or improvement of something.

pump ² American  

[puhmp] / pʌmp /

noun

1. a lightweight, low-cut shoe without fastenings for women.

2. a slip-on black patent leather shoe for men, for wear with formal dress.

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pump ¹ British  

/ pʌmp /

noun

1. any device for compressing, driving, raising, or reducing the pressure of a fluid, esp by means of a piston or set of rotating impellers

2. biology a mechanism for the active transport of ions, such as protons, calcium ions, and sodium ions, across cell membranes

   a sodium pump

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verb

1. to raise or drive (air, liquid, etc, esp into or from something) with a pump or similar device

2. (tr; usually foll by in or into) to supply in large amounts

   to pump capital into a project

3. (tr) to deliver (shots, bullets, etc) repeatedly with great force

4. to operate (something, esp a handle or lever) in the manner of a pump or (of something) to work in this way

   to pump the pedals of a bicycle

5. (tr) to obtain (information) from (a person) by persistent questioning

6. (intr; usually foll by from or out of) (of liquids) to flow freely in large spurts

   oil pumped from the fissure

pump ² British  

/ pʌmp /

noun

1. a low-cut low-heeled shoe without fastenings, worn esp for dancing

2. a type of shoe with a rubber sole, used in games such as tennis; plimsoll

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pump Scientific  

/ pŭmp /

1. A device used to raise or transfer fluids. Most pumps function either by compression or suction.

2. A molecular mechanism for the active transport of ions or molecules across a cell membrane.

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Usage

What else does pump mean? Content warning: this article contains references to guns. Among many other slang senses, pump is short for pump-action shotgun, a type of shotgun that requires the user to change the shell with a pumping-like action.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pumpable
  adjective
• pumpless
  adjective
• pumplike
  adjective
• unpumpable
  adjective
• unpumped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• pumping
  present
• pumped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pump
  simple
• pumps
  simple
• have pumped
  perfect
• has pumped
  perfect
• am pumping
  progressive
• are pumping
  progressive
• is pumping
  progressive
• have been pumping
  perfect progressive
• has been pumping
  perfect progressive

Past

• pumped
  simple
• had pumped
  perfect
• was pumping
  progressive
• were pumping
  progressive
• had been pumping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pump
  simple
• will have pumped
  perfect
• will be pumping
  progressive
• will have been pumping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pump¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English noun pumpe, pompe; cognate with German Pumpe, Dutch pomp

Origin of pump²

First recorded in 1720–30; origin uncertain

Explanation

A pump is a machine that sucks up liquid from one place and moves it somewhere else, like a gas pump. If you’re pumped about this word, you can put on pumps, pump up the volume, and pump some iron! When you use the device called a pump, you pump water or gas. Other things that force some liquid or gas to move, also pump: your heart pumps blood, and your foot pumps the brake of your car when you're stopping on an icy road. If you pump iron, you lift weights. If you’re pumped, you’re excited. “Pump Up the Volume” was a hit song in 1987, so turn it up. A pump is also a woman's dress shoe.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pump pumps pumped pumping

Parton wrote a lot of songs, but none pump through the American bloodstream like “I Will Always Love You.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

It develops when the heart cannot pump enough oxygen-rich blood to meet the body's needs.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026

Then, with the foreboding intro and the tapping heel of a bedazzled platform pump, the delicious reveal of Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter singing “Sweet Transvestite” cemented that this experience would bond us for life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

“Candace Owens will pump out all this information and encourage people to read it all and come to their own conclusions,” Cotlar said.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

I mentally fist pump and suit up to start on the defoliant.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Venezuela, though, isn’t currently a major oil producer—it pumps just 1.1 million barrels a day, on par with North Dakota.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

What are heat pumps and how much do they cost?

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

The update will set rules for the Sacramento River and the rest of the Delta, where pumps operated by state and federal agencies send water flowing in aqueducts to farms and cities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

It was a convenience store with abandoned gas pumps and a cryptocurrency machine inside.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

To keep the excavated chambers as dry as possible, they ran pumps twenty-four hours a day.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

The place was packed with tough-looking, mostly male bikers pumped about a huge rally they were attending.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

It has pumped heavy oil in California for 30 years, supplying the likes of Chevron in the state, and has developed fields in West Africa and Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

A handful of billionaires have pumped more than $156 million into Building a Better California, mostly from Brin, who has given more than $100 million to the group.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Initially it pumped PCBs into waterways in Anniston, Alabama.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

The boys held up while Candace pumped the lotion into her hand, jamming the plunger down over and over again until she had enough to turn sidewalk to Slip 'N Slide.

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

Venezuela’s oil output has also barely budged, with the country pumping about 1.1 million barrels a day, roughly in line with last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The Sunday parade hasn't started yet, but the music is already pumping, and plenty of people are dancing, already covered in paint from J'ouvert, the traditional early-morning celebration which kicks off Sunday's festivities.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

The team, comprising around 90 army and police personnel, first broke through into the upper part of a mud-swamped 3A tunnel on Saturday night, pumping air inside and sending in a camera.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

And to do it, they’re clipping some flabbergasting selections from their media libraries and pumping them out into vertical videos.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

“I have business to attend to,” he began, his arm pumping mine like he was trying to fill a water bucket.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

Related Words

• drain
• draw
• inject
• pour
• push
• send
• siphon
• supply
• tap