an apparatus or machine for raising, driving, exhausting, or compressing fluids or gases by means of a piston, plunger, or set of rotating vanes.
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.
Biology. an animal organ that propels fluid through the body; heart.
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.
verb (used with object)
to raise, drive, etc., with a pump.
to free from water or other liquid by means of a pump.
to inflate by pumping (often followed by up): to pump a tire up.
to operate or move by an up-and-down or back-and-forth action.
to supply with air, as an organ, by means of a pumplike device.
to drive, force, etc., as if from a pump: He rapidly pumped a dozen shots into the bull's-eye.
to supply or inject as if by using a pump: to pump money into a failing business.
to question artfully or persistently to elicit information: to pump someone for confidential information.
to elicit (information) by questioning.
verb (used without object)
to work a pump; raise or move water, oil, etc., with a pump.
to operate as a pump does.
to move up and down like a pump handle.
to exert oneself in a manner likened to pumping: He pumped away at his homework all evening.
to seek to elicit information from a person.
to come out in spurts.
Verb Phrases
pump up,
to inflate.
to increase, heighten, or strengthen; put more effort into or emphasis on; intensify: The store has decided to pump up its advertising.
to infuse with enthusiasm, competitive spirit, energy, etc.: The contestants were all backstage pumping themselves up for their big moment.
Idioms
prime the pump,
to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy.
to support or promote the operation or improvement of something.
"apparatus for forcing liquid or air," early 15c., of uncertain origin, possibly from Middle Dutch pompe "water conduit, pipe," or Middle Low German pumpe "pump" (Modern German Pumpe), both from some North Sea sailors' word, possibly of imitative origin.
pump
n.2
"low shoe without fasteners," 1550s, of unknown origin, perhaps echoic of the sound made when walking in them, or perhaps from Dutch pampoesje, from Javanese pampoes, of Arabic origin. Klein's sources propose a connection with pomp (n.). Related: pumps.
pump
v.
c.1500, from pump (n.1). Metaphoric extension in pump (someone) for information is from 1630s. To pump iron "lift weights for fitness" is from 1972. Related: Pumped; pumping.
