pump
/pʌmp/ noun, verb
Forms pumps pumping pumped
- noun A device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas. “This pump can deliver 100 gallons of water per minute.”
- noun An instance of the action of a pump; one stroke of a pump; any action similar to pumping. “It takes thirty pumps to get 10 litres; he did 50 pumps of the weights.”
- noun A device for dispensing liquid or gas to be sold, particularly fuel; a gas pump. “This pump is out of order, but you can gas up at the next one.”
- noun (bodybuilding, climbing) A swelling of the muscles caused by increased blood flow following high intensity weightlifting.
- noun (colloquial) A ride on a bicycle given to a passenger, usually on the handlebars or fender. “She gave the other girl a pump on her new bike.”
- noun (US, slang) The heart.
- noun (obsolete, vulgar, UK slang) The vagina.
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To use a pump; to move (water or other liquid) by means of a pump. “I've been pumping for over a minute but the water isn't coming through.”
- verb (transitive) To inject or pour (something) into someone or something in a manner similar to a pump.
- verb (obsolete) To put (a person or part of the body) under a stream of water from a pump, as a punishment or as a form of medical treatment; to force a pump of water upon or on someone.
- verb (transitive) To gain something, especially information, from (a person) by persistent questioning.
- verb (transitive, UK, slang) To have sex with; to sexually penetrate, especially with a thrusting motion.
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To express milk from (a breast) by means of a breast pump.
- verb (transitive, often followed by up) To fill with air by means of a pump; to inflate. “He pumped up the air-bed by hand, but used the service station air to pump up the tyres.”
- verb (transitive) To move rhythmically, as the motion of a pump. “I pumped my fist with joy when I won the race.”
- noun (UK) A low-top shoe with a rubber sole and a canvas upper; a low-top canvas sneaker.
- noun (chiefly Canada, US) A type of women's shoe which leaves the instep uncovered and has a relatively high heel, especially a stiletto (with a very high and thin heel) “She was wearing a lovely new pair of pumps.”
- noun A dancing shoe.
- noun A type of shoe without a heel.
Synonyms
axe wound bearded clam beaver berk bonne bouche box bun bush cavern clunge coin slot cooch coochie cookie cooter cooze crack crevice cunny cunt heart ticker
Etymology
From Middle English pumpe, possibly from Middle Dutch pompe (“pipe, water conduit”) or Middle Low German pumpe (“pump”), probably ultimately imitative.
Compare Dutch pompen, German pumpen, and Danish pompe; also Spanish bomba (“pump”).
The etymology of the term is unclear and disputed. One possibility is that it comes from pomp (“ornamentation”). Another is that it refers to the sound made by the foot moving inside the shoe when dancing. 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 پاپوش (pâpuš), borrowed from Arabic بَابُوش (bābūš).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A low shoe with a thin sole. Swift.
- 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.
- verb To raise with a pump, as water or other liquid.
- verb To draw water, or the like, from; to from water by means of a pump; as, they pumped the well dry; to pump a ship.
Etymology [Probably so called as being worn for pomp or ornament. See Pomp.]
Etymology [Akin to D. pomp, G. pumpe, F. pompe; of unknown origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pump”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details