pump
(pʌmp )
Word forms: pumps , pumping , pumped
1. countable noun B1
A pump is a machine or device that is used to force a liquid or gas to flow in a particular direction.
...pumps that circulate the fuel around in the engine.
There was no water in the building, just a pump in the courtyard.
You'll need a bicycle pump to keep the tyres topped up with air.
2. verb
To pump a liquid or gas in a particular direction means to force it to flow in that direction using a pump.
It's not enough to get rid of raw sewage by pumping it out to sea. [VERB noun with adverb]
The money raised will be used to dig bore holes to pump water into the dried-up lake. [VERB noun preposition]
...drill rigs that are busy pumping natural gas. [VERB noun]
Age diminishes the heart's ability to pump harder and faster under exertion. [VERB]
Synonyms: drive out, empty, drain, force out
3. countable noun [oft noun NOUN] B1+
A petrol or gas pump is a machine with a tube attached to it that you use to fill a car with petrol.
There are already long queues of vehicles at petrol pumps.
...gas pumps.
4. verb [usually passive] [Also be VERB-ed]
If someone has their stomach pumped, doctors remove the contents of their stomach, for example because they have swallowed poison or drugs.
She was released from hospital yesterday after having her stomach pumped. [have noun VERB-ed]
5. verb
If you pump money or other resources into something such as a project or an industry, you invest a lot of money or resources in it. [informal]
The Government needs to pump more money into community care. [VERB noun + into]
Synonyms: supply, send, pour, inject
6. verb
If you pump someone about something, you keep asking them questions in order to get information. [informal]
He ran in every five minutes to pump me about the case. [V n + about/for]
He must have pumped Janey for details. [V n about/for n]
Stop trying to pump information out of me. [V n + out of/from]
Synonyms: interrogate, probe, quiz, cross-examine
7. verb
To pump bullets into someone means to fire a lot of bullets into them very quickly. [written]
Synonyms: fire, shoot, discharge, let off
8. countable noun B2
Pumps are canvas shoes with flat rubber soles which people wear for sports and leisure. [mainly British]
regional note: in AM, use trainers 9. countable noun
Pumps are women's shoes that do not cover the top part of the foot and are usually made of plain leather. [US]
regional note: in BRIT, use court shoes10. to prime the pump phrase
To prime the pump means to do something to encourage the success or growth of something, especially the economy. [mainly US]
...the use of tax money to prime the pump of the state's economy. [+ of]
11. to pump iron phrase [VERB inflects]
If someone pumps iron, they exercise by lifting weights using special machines. [informal]
Phrasal verbs:
pump out
1. phrasal verb [Also VERB noun PARTICLE]
To pump out something means to produce or supply it continually and in large amounts.
Japanese companies have been pumping out plenty of innovative products. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
World Service Television is pumping out 24-hour news to 38 countries in Asia. [VERB PARTICLE noun (not pronoun)]
2. phrasal verb
If pop music pumps out, it plays very loudly.
Teenage disco music pumped out at every station. [VERB PARTICLE]
pump up
1. phrasal verb B2 [Also VERB noun PARTICLE]
If you pump up something such as a tyre, you fill it with air using a pump.
I tried to pump up my back tyre. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
2. phrasal verb
If you pump yourself up for something, you prepare yourself for it mentally, especially by telling yourself that you can succeed. [informal]
They find it difficult to pump themselves up for the games. [VERB pronoun-reflexive PARTICLE]
Image of pump
© kreatorex, Shutterstock
Idioms:
prime the pump [journalism]
to take action to help something succeed or grow, usually by spending money on it
Spring is the time when the government primes the pump to help farmers prepare their fields.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Collocations:
hand pump pump cash into
The only lavatory will be a compost facility operated by a hand pump, and there certainly won't be a fridge or a television.
Times, Sunday Times
Towards the end of the trip further battery problems forced them to use a hand pump to desalinate water for drinking.
Times, Sunday Times
Although they cost less than $500, a fraction of the cost of a piston hand pump, they rarely break down.
Times, Sunday Times
What a gold-plated hand pump.
Times, Sunday Times
Their clapboard bungalow had no plumbing so water came from a hand pump in the back yard.
Times, Sunday Times
Government pressure has also played a part in the spree, encouraging council funds to merge and to pump cash into building roads, railways and pipelines.
Times, Sunday Times
This rarely used framework allows companies to pump cash into a pension scheme in return for being allowed to continue trading without those liabilities.
Times, Sunday Times
Investors could pump cash into organisations such as fair trade coffee and chocolate firms, housing co-operatives and other enterprises that make profits yet also have a social or environmental objective.
Times, Sunday Times
This pumps cash into the economy, but at the same time it lowers the yields on gilt-edged stocks, which determine annuity rates (see above, right).
Times, Sunday Times
They kept pumping cash into bank accounts - then asked grieving relatives to pay it back.
The Sun
Translations:
Chinese: 泵, 泵吸
Japanese: ポンプ, ポンプで注入する
- wholly inappropriate
- wholly independent
- wholly irrelevant
- wholly natural
- wholly negative
- wholly original
- wholly-owned subsidiary
- wholly predictable
- wholly responsible
- wholly satisfactory
- wholly successful
- wholly unable to
- wholly unexpected
- wholly unique
- wholly unprepared
- wholly unrelated
- whom
- whomever
- who needs sth?
- whoop
- whoopee
- whooping cough
- whoops
- whoosh
- whopper