Other forms: pumps, pumping, pumped
A pump is the device that forces air into a tyre, or moves liquid from one place to another. A handle, a hose, and a valve.
The word covers a huge family: a bicycle pump, a water pump, a fuel pump, and the heart, which is a pump in every sense that matters. As a verb it means to move fluid in that way, and from there it means to press repeatedly, so you pump somebody's hand. There is a useful informal sense too, since pumping somebody for information means questioning them persistently.
1nounpumpA device for forcing liquid or gas through a system.
“The pump on the boiler has failed.”
2verbforceTo force liquid or air somewhere, or to press repeatedly.
“He pumped up the front tyre.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Middle Low German
pumpe — pump
Middle Dutch
pompe — pipe, water conduit
Middle English
pumpe
English, today
pump
From Middle English pumpe, possibly from Middle Dutch pompe (“pipe, water conduit”) or Middle Low German pumpe (“pump”), probably ultimately imitative of the sound. Compare Dutch pompen, German pumpen, and Danish pompe; also Spanish bomba (“pump”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA