pump
noun
an apparatus or machine for raising, driving, exhausting, or compressing fluids or gases by means of a piston, plunger, or set of rotating vanes.
were pumping
-
past progressiveof pump.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Chevron’s U.S. refineries were pumping out fuel at a record rate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Investors were pumping the brakes on Tuesday, but this comes after the S&P 500 posted a 22.8% gain from May to the end of October.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2025
As long as Netflix, And Apple and Amazon were pumping billions of dollars into this industry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2023
The world's largest ocean-going dredgers were pumping millions of tonnes of gravel and sand on to the top of the reef creating a huge artificial island.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2023
They were pumping thousands of tons of seawater a day into reactors 1, 2, and 3, where it flowed around the melted cores and pooled in a radioactive mess in the buildings’ basements.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
