Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A woman's shoe that has medium or high heels and no fastenings.
  • noun A machine or device for raising, compressing, or transferring fluids.
  • noun Physiology A molecular mechanism for the active transport of ions or molecules across a cell membrane.
  • noun Physics Electromagnetic radiation used to raise atoms or molecules to a higher energy level.
  • noun Informal The heart.
  • noun Informal The place where consumers purchase gasoline. Used with the.
  • intransitive verb To cause to flow by means of a pump or pumplike organ or device.
  • intransitive verb To draw, deliver, or pour forth.
  • intransitive verb To propel, eject, or insert.
  • intransitive verb To cause to move with an up-and-down or back-and-forth motion.
  • intransitive verb To push or pull (a brake or lever, for instance) rapidly.
  • intransitive verb To shoot (bullets, for example) at or into.
  • intransitive verb Physics To raise (atoms or molecules) to a higher energy level by exposing them to electromagnetic radiation at a resonant frequency.
  • intransitive verb Physiology To transport (ions or molecules) against a concentration gradient by the expenditure of chemically stored energy.
  • intransitive verb To invest (money) repeatedly or persistently in something.
  • intransitive verb To question closely or persistently.
  • intransitive verb Informal To promote or publicize vigorously.
  • intransitive verb To operate a pump.
  • intransitive verb To move gas or liquid with a pump or a pumplike organ or device.
  • intransitive verb To move up and down or back and forth in a vigorous manner.
  • intransitive verb To flow in spurts.
  • intransitive verb Sports To fake a throw, pass, or shot by moving the arm or arms without releasing the ball.
  • idiom (pump iron) To lift weights.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To work a pump; raise water or other liquid with a pump.
  • To raise with a pump: as, to pump water.
  • To free from water or other fluid by means of a pump or pumps: as, to pump a ship.
  • To elicit or draw out by or as by artful interrogation: as, to pump out secrets.
  • To subject to a pumping process for the purpose of extracting, procuring, or obtaining something, such as money, information, or secrets.
  • noun One of several kinds of hydraulic and pneumatic machines.
  • noun [⟨ pump, verb] An artful effort to extract or elicit information, as by indirect question or remark.
  • noun A low shoe or slipper, with a single unwelted sole, and without a heel, or with a very low heel, worn chiefly for dancing.
  • To throb; beat.
  • To issue in intermittent jets, as blood from a wounded artery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A low shoe with a thin sole.
  • intransitive verb To work, or raise water, a pump.
  • transitive verb To raise with a pump, as water or other liquid.
  • transitive verb To draw water, or the like, from; to from water by means of a pump
  • transitive verb Figuratively, to draw out or obtain, as secrets or money, by persistent questioning or plying; to question or ply persistently in order to elicit something, as information, money, etc.
  • noun An hydraulic machine, variously constructed, for raising or transferring fluids, consisting essentially of a moving piece or piston working in a hollow cylinder or other cavity, with valves properly placed for admitting or retaining the fluid as it is drawn or driven through them by the action of the piston.
  • noun (Steam Engine) a pump for driving the condensing water through the casing, or tubes, of a surface condenser.
  • noun See Pump handle, below.
  • noun See Dale.
  • noun the apparatus belonging to a pump.
  • noun the lever, worked by hand, by which motion is given to the bucket of a pump.
  • noun a semicylindrical appendage covering the upper wheel of a chain pump.
  • noun the rod to which the bucket of a pump is fastened, and which is attached to the brake or handle; the piston rod.
  • noun [Eng.] a place or room at a mineral spring where the waters are drawn and drunk.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English pumpe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The etymology of the term is unclear and disputed. One possibility is that it comes from "Pomp" (i.e. ornamentation), claimed in Skeat & Skeat's A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (ISBN 9781596050921), and another is that it refers to the sound made by the foot moving inside the shoe when dancing, suggested as a probable source in Chambers's etymological dictionary (James Donald - Published by W. and R. Chambers, 1867). The Oxford English Dictionary claims that it appeared in the 16th century, and lists its origin as "obscure". It has also been linked to the Dutch pampoesje, possibly borrowed from Javanese "pampus", ultimately from Persian (papush) / Arabic (babush) (International archives of ethnography: Volume 9 - Intern. Gesellschaft für Ethnographie; Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië - Ter Lands-drukkerij, 1870).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English pumpe, possibly from Middle Dutch pompe ("pipe, water conduit") or Middle Low German pumpe ("pump"). Compare Dutch pompen, German pumpen, and Danish pompe.

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Examples

  • For this reason the pump has received the name of _lifting pump_.

    General Science Bertha M. Clark

  • In many cases it is desirable to force water considerably above the pump itself, as, for instance, in the fire hose; under such circumstances a type of pump is employed which has received the name of _force pump_.

    General Science Bertha M. Clark

  • After speaking with Manny about designing accessories for those on the pump, we thought it would be a great idea to start a group of 'Think Tankers' who would share their wants, needs and features they'd like to see in accessories for those who pump*

    Discussion Forum - TuDiabetes 2010

  • After speaking with Manny about designing accessories for those on the pump, we thought it would be a great idea to start a group of 'Think Tankers' who would share their wants, needs and features they'd like to see in accessories for those who pump*

    Discussion Forum - TuDiabetes 2010

  • After speaking with Manny about designing accessories for those on the pump, we thought it would be a great idea to start a group of 'Think Tankers' who would share their wants, needs and features they'd like to see in accessories for those who pump*

    Discussion Forum - TuDiabetes 2010

  • The term pump first popped up in 1550 in England, where male servants sported the style.

    CNN.com 2012

  • Somehow, I got the wrong invitation — not to the label pump-you-up meeting, but to the advertiser pump-you-up meeting.

    Birth of an MTV Nation Anson, Robert Sam 2000

  • Somehow, I got the wrong invitation — not to the label pump-you-up meeting, but to the advertiser pump-you-up meeting.

    Birth of an MTV Nation Anson, Robert Sam 2000

  • The body of the pump is about 4 "in diameter, and it's about 6" from front to back.

    Water Heater question 2008

  • The body of the pump is about 4 "in diameter, and it's about 6" from front to back.

    Water Heater question 2008

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