pumping

Verb

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

1. (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.
2. (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
3. (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
4. (transitive) To gain something, especially information, from (a person) by persistent questioning.
   • But pump not me for politics.1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd

   Synonyms:

   grill, interrogate

5. (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

   Synonyms:

   bang, approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple, engage in sex, exchange flesh, have intimate relations

6. (intransitive, transitive) To express milk from (a breast) by means of a breast pump.

See all 28 meanings of pump