pump: Meaning and Definition of

pump

Pronunciation: (pump), [key]
— n.
  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. a shore having a jackscrew in its foot for adjusting the length or for bearing more firmly against the structure to be sustained.
  3. an animal organ that propels fluid through the body; heart.
  4. 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.
    1. to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy.
    2. to support or promote the operation or improvement of something.
—v.t.
  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 fol. by up): 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.
—v.i.
  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.
  7. See(def. 16).
  8. The store has decided to pump up its advertising.
    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.

pump

Pronunciation: (pump), [key]
— n.
  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.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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