pump

B1 · Intermediate Countable noun

n. a type of shoe, such as a high heel for women or a soft sports shoe.

n. a type of plain shoe that lacks fastenings; refers to high-heeled court shoes in North America or light canvas sneakers in British English.

“She wore a pair of black pumps with her professional suit for the interview.”

“In the UK, children are often required to wear black canvas pumps for indoor physical education classes.”

C1 · Advanced Uncountable noun Sports Informal

n. the tight, full feeling in your muscles after lifting heavy weights.

n. a temporary increase in muscle volume caused by blood engorgement during high-intensity resistance training.

“After doing twenty repetitions of the exercise, he felt a massive pump in his arms.”

“Bodybuilders often seek a significant muscle pump before a competition to enhance vascularity and definition on stage.”

A2 · Elementary

v. to move liquid or gas using a machine or a rhythmic motion.

v. to move or extract fluid by means of a pump or a similar mechanical action.

“The heart works hard to pump blood to every part of the body.”

“The emergency crew had to pump water out of the basement for three hours after the pipe burst.”

A2 · Elementary

v. to fill something with air, like a tyre or a ball.

v. to fill an object with air or gas using a pump; often used with the particle 'up'.

“You need to pump up your bicycle tyres before we go for a ride.”

“The coach spent the morning pumping up the basketballs to ensure they met the league's pressure requirements.”

B2 · Upper Intermediate Informal

v. to try to get information from someone by asking many questions.

v. to elicit information from a person through persistent or artful questioning.

“The reporters tried to pump the manager for details about the new contract.”

“Detectives attempted to pump the witness for information regarding the suspect's whereabouts on the night of the robbery.”

B2 · Upper Intermediate

v. to move up and down or in and out with a strong, steady rhythm.

v. to move or operate with the rhythmic, forceful motion characteristic of a piston or pump.

“The crowd started to pump their fists in the air as the music got louder.”

“The pistons continued to pump rhythmically, driving the massive engine forward across the plains.”

C2 · Proficiency Computing Technical

v. to send data or messages into a computer program.

v. to feed or process messages through a software loop or system.

“The system needs to pump messages through the event loop to stay responsive.”

“The application architecture was designed to pump asynchronous events into the main processing thread without causing latency.”