priming the pump

Verb

prime the pump (third-person singular simple present primes the pump, present participle priming the pump, simple past and past participle primed the pump)

1. (idiomatic) To engage in deficit spending.
   • […] by supplying, through the Federal Treasury, a sufficient flow of finance and currency that will prime the pump and keep it going until it can start its flow from the well or fountain of national resources.1935, Congressional Record, page 4087
2. (idiomatic, informal) To give something in order to create the conditions where others will give in return.
   • For example, if you give money to a charity, as a tax reduction or to prime the pump for more money to flow to you, than the actual intent is not making someone else happy, but yourself.2001, Asa E. Lennon, The Forgotten Self: A Book of Reminders, →ISBN, page 112
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see prime, the, pump.