pump

/pʌmp/

pump noun: a device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas.

Image: Mo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

pump (plural pumps)

A device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas.
- This pump can deliver 100 gallons of water per minute.
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.
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.
- Trump thinks: If I can actually end this war and lift sanctions on Russia, Russian oil will swamp the global market, it’ll drive down the price of gasoline at the pump and I will win the midterms.2025 February 20, Thomas L. Friedman, Patrick Healy, Jillian Weinberger, “Tom Friedman on Just How Far Trump Could Push the World”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
A swelling of the muscles caused by increased blood flow following high intensity weightlifting.
- Want a skin-stretching pump? Up the volume by using high-rep sets.
- A great pump is better than coming.2010, Eric Velazquez, “Power Pairings” (17::83 from the start), in Reps!, spoken by Arnold Schwarzenegger
(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.
(US, slang) The heart.
(UK, obsolete, slang, vulgar) The vagina.
- Thus to and again to our paſtime we went, / And my Cards I play'd fairly to Jenny's content; / I work'd at her Pump till my Sucker grew dry, / Then I left pumping, a good Reaſon why.1750, “Ge ho, Dobbin or the Waggoner”, in The Tulip, page 2
Synonyms:

axe wound, bearded clam, beaver, berk, bonne bouche, box, bun, bush, cavern, clunge

Verb

pump (third-person singular simple present pumps, present participle pumping, simple past and past participle pumped)

(intransitive, transitive) 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.
- I've pumped over 1000 gallons of water in the last ten minutes.
(transitive) To inject or pour (something) into someone or something in a manner similar to a pump.
- The underlying cause of the warming is human activities pumping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, scientists say. But the reasons why marine heating is speeding up now are far from clear.2023 August 7, Clive Cookson, “Missing ice and bleached coral: the sudden warming of the oceans”, in Financial Times
(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.
- Pump him soundly, impudent Fellow.1676, Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso
- ‘So much the worse for him. I've had my eye on him for some time. He shall be prettily pumped upon.’1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book IV, chapter 37
(transitive) To gain something, especially information, from (a person) by persistent questioning.
- But pump not me for politics.1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd
- I had no idea why he wanted to be sociable, but as we chatted in there it suddenly occurred to me the fellow was trying to get at something - in fact, pumping me.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 214
Synonyms:

grill, interrogate
(UK, slang, transitive) To have sex with; to sexually penetrate, especially with a thrusting motion.
- Thus to and again to our paſtime we went, / And my Cards I play'd fairly to Jenny's content; / I work'd at her Pump till my Sucker grew dry, / Then I left pumping, a good Reaſon why.1750, “Ge ho, Dobbin or the Waggoner”, in The Tulip, page 2
- Pump my tight hole so long and hard that I can't walk or sit when you're done.1990 December 9, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 12
Synonyms:

bang, approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple, engage in sex, exchange flesh, have intimate relations
(intransitive, transitive) To express milk from (a breast) by means of a breast pump.
(often, transitive) 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.
(transitive) To move rhythmically, as the motion of a pump.
- I pumped my fist with joy when I won the race.
To enlarge the body by means of weightlifting or steroid use.

Synonyms:

big up, lift, pump iron
(transitive) To shake (a person's hand) vigorously.

Synonyms:

handshake
(US, intransitive, slang) Of music: to be loud, to have strong bass and rhythms; (by extension) to be full of energy.
- The waves were really pumping this morning.
- Last night's party was really pumping.
To kick, throw, or hit the ball far and high.
- Blackburn pumped long balls towards Diouf as they became increasingly desperate to salvage a point, but Wigan held on for a win that may prove crucial in their quest for Premier League survival.2011 February 5, Michael Da Silva, “Wigan 4 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC

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(UK, slang, vulgar) To pass gas; to fart quietly.
- People never pumped, just never never, but sometimes ye got smells.2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 82
Synonyms:

trump, badger, blow off, break ass, break wind, bust ass, crepitate, curmur, cut one, cut one loose
To pass (messages) into a program so that it can obey them.
- Sure enough, rather than pumping a message to the Console window, you will now see a message box displaying your message2006, Andrew Troelsen, Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform
- The CLR pumps messages automatically during a wait, reducing the likelihood of this but it can show up in native code.2008, Joe Duffy, Concurrent Programming on Windows
(colloquial) To inject silicone into the body in order to try to achieve a fuller or curvier look.
To fire a bullet from a firearm.
- As quick as was el adrea, Tarzan of the Apes was quicker, and so the great beast crashed against a tree where he had expected to feel the soft flesh of man, while Tarzan, a couple of paces to the right, pumped another bullet into him that brought him clawing and roaring to his side.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 80
To load a shell into the chamber of a pump-action shotgun by pumping the mechanism.
- He ran on, pumping another round up into his scattergun.

Noun (2)

pump (plural pumps)

(UK) A low-top shoe with a rubber sole and a canvas upper; a low-top canvas sneaker.

Synonyms:

gym shoe, dap, plimsoll, sneaker
(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.
Synonyms:

court shoe
A dancing shoe.
- Gabriel's pumps were all unpinkt i' th' heel1591, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew
- So I laid down my knittin', an' got up, an' stole ovir to the banes, an' nivir believe me iv I didn't see, sittin' right forenint me, in the very middle of thim, a bit of an ould man, not a quarther so big as a new-born child, wid a little cocked hat an his head, an' a dudeen in his mouth, smokin'...1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 378
A type of shoe without a heel.

pump meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pump in Hindi

device for moving liquid or gas: पंप pamp, पम्प pamp

pump in Tamil

இதை, எக்கி, இறைவை இயந்திரம், இறைப்பி, ஏற்றுதல், இறைத்தேற்று

pump in Marathi

device for moving liquid or gas: पंप pampa

pump in Urdu

device for moving liquid or gas: پَمْپ pamp

More languagesFewer languages

pump in Bengali: পাম্প pampo
pump in Telugu: పంపు pampu, తోడు tōḍu
pump in Malayalam: അടിക്കുക aṭikkuka
pump in Kannada: ಎಳೆದು ತೆಗೆ, ಎತ್ತು, ಒತ್ತಿ ನೂಕು, ಒತ್ತಡಕ
pump in Punjabi: ਪੰਪ, ਪੰਪ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
pump in Gujarati: પંપ, પમ્પ, પંપીંગ કરો
pump in Odia: ପମ୍ପ, ପମ୍ପ୍, ପମ୍ପ କରିବା
pump in Nepali: पम्प, पंप, पम्प गर्न
pump in Tagalog: poso
pump in Arabic: مِضَخَّة miḍaḵḵa, ضَخّ ḍaḵḵ, ضَخَّ ḍaḵḵa
pump in Malay: pam
pump in Indonesian: pompa
pump in Thai: เครื่องสูบลม krʉ̂ʉang-sùup-lom, เครื่องสูบน้ำ krʉ̂ʉang-sùup-náam, เครื่องสูบ krʉ̂ʉang-sùup, ปั๊ม bpám
pump in Vietnamese: bơm, đổ
pump in Myanmar: လေထိုးတံ lehtui:tam

Examples of pump in a sentence

With each beat, your heart's left ventricle pumps blood into your arteries, which are all different sizes.2026, Ginny Graves, “The Most Important Health Metric You're Not Tracking”, in Men's Health, volume 41, number 2, page 19:
In a pinch, if something were to happen, to either one of us, you could pump your parents for money.1990 February 4, Vanessa Nemeth, Stephanie Poggi, “Bumps And All”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 12:
"Did Dora just offer up that advice, or were you pumping her for information?" "Shoot, I outed my informant.2017, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 3509: Sensitive Information:
Ballerine - or ballet pumps - are the Milanese woman's footwear 'de rigeur', and not just because there are so many cobbled streets to walk over and are therefore infinitely preferable to heels.2012, Rachael Martin, The Fashion Lover's Guide to Milan:

All 40 example sentences with pump

Synonyms of pump

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of pump

Forms of pump

Noun
plural	pumps
Verb
third-person singular present	pumps
present participle	pumping
past participle	pumped
past	pumped

Past tense of pump: pumped

Plural of pump: pumps

Origin of pump

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).

Words formed from pump

Phrases with pump

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Words that rhyme with pump

18 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pump

What does pump mean?: Pump means a device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas.
What is pump in Hindi?: Pump in Hindi is पंप (pamp), पम्प (pamp). See Pump meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pump in a sentence?: With each beat, your heart's left ventricle pumps blood into your arteries, which are all different sizes.
What part of speech is pump?: Pump can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce pump?: Pump is pronounced /pʌmp/.
What is the plural of pump?: The plural of pump is pumps.

Words near pump in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: pump (page history and authors); pump (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); അടിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); pump (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pump (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pump (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pump (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pump (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pump.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pump.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pump. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.