Dictionary
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. Engin., Building Trades.a shore having a jackscrew in its foot for adjusting the length or for bearing more firmly against the structure to be sustained.
3. Biol.an animal organ that propels fluid through the body; heart.
4. Cell Biol.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.
5. prime the pump,
a. to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy.
b. 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. pump iron. See
iron (def. 16).
8. pump up,
a. to inflate.
b. to increase, heighten, or strengthen; put more effort into or emphasis on; intensify:
The store has decided to pump up its advertising.
c. 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.
