an apparatus or machine for raising, driving, exhausting, or compressing fluids or gases by means of a piston, plunger, or set of rotating vanes.

Engineering, 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.

Biology . an animal organ that propels fluid through the body; heart.

Cell Biology . 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.

to raise, drive, etc., with a pump.

to free from water or other liquid by means of a pump.

to inflate by pumping (often fol. by up )

to pump a tire up.

to operate or move by an up-and-down or back-and-forth action.

to supply with air, as an organ, by means of a pumplike device.

to drive, force, etc., as if from a pump

He rapidly pumped a dozen shots into the bull's-eye.

to supply or inject as if by using a pump

to pump money into a failing business.

to question artfully or persistently to elicit information

to pump someone for confidential information.

to elicit (information) by questioning.

to work a pump; raise or move water, oil, etc., with a pump.

to operate as a pump does.

to move up and down like a pump handle.

to exert oneself in a manner likened to pumping

He pumped away at his homework all evening.

to seek to elicit information from a person.

to come out in spurts. ?

pump up,

to inflate.

to increase, heighten, or strengthen; put more effort into or emphasis on; intensify

The store has decided to pump up its advertising.

to infuse with enthusiasm, competitive spirit, energy, etc.

The contestants were all backstage pumping themselves up for their big moment.

prime the pump

to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy.

to support or promote the operation or improvement of something.

pump iron. iron ( def. 29 ) .

verb

answer , reply

verb

bail out , blow up , dilate , distend , draft , drain , draw , draw off , drive , drive out , elevate , empty , force , force out , inflate , inject , pour , push , send , siphon , supply , swell , tap , cross-examine , draw out , give the third degree , grill , interrogate , probe , query , question , quiz , worm out of , let out , jack , shoe , stirrup , syringe