Australian Under pressure to do something: they kept their composure well when we were under the pump...- I was under the pump a little bit to get myself ready in the last couple of weeks with some back tightness.
- By any count the brothers are under the pump as current difficulties are used to rationalize again.
- There are plenty of other senior executives inside the bank who should be under the pump.
Probably from an old practice of forcibly holding someone under a pump in a public place and pumping water over them, e.g. as a form of punishment