pump v.
1. (also pump at, pump out, put on the pump) to ask questions, to cross-examine, esp. to interrogate in a police station; thus your pump is good but your sucker is dry, your questions are good, but I have nothing to offer; pumping, questioning, interrogation.
Women Pleased IV iii: I shall pump ye anon Sir. | ||
Tale of a Tub IV iii: I’ll stand aside whilst thou pump’st out of him His business. | ||
Eng. Rogue 41: This servent endeavoured to pump out of the Proponent what he came about. | ||
Sauny the Scot II i: You may pump long enough er’e you get out a wise Word. | ||
An Evening’s Love Act III: Maskall, pump the Woman; and see if you can discover anything to save my Credit. | ||
Hudibras Pt II canto 3 lines 489–92: Look yonder, some / To try or use our art are come: / The one’s the learned knight; seek out, / And pump ’em what they come about. | ||
Venice Preserv’d II i: Pump me not for politics. No more! | ||
Old Bachelor V i: She was pumping me about how your worship’s affairs stood towards Madam Araminta. | ||
London Spy XVII 443: Old Practicers in the Noble Art of pump and Wheedle. | ||
Beaux’ Strategem II ii: We’ll call him out and pump him a little. | ||
Beggar’s Opera III ix: By pouring Strong-Waters down my Throat, she thinks to pump some Secrets out of me. | ||
, , , | Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: Pump to wheedle Secrets out of any one. Pumpt dry, not a Word left to say. | |
Dialogue Between a Married Lady and a Maid I : My own Mother set me on to pump thee, about what past between you two. | ||
Tom Jones (1959) 369: She therefore ordered her maid to pump out of him by what means he had become acquainted with her person. | ||
Lyar in Works (1799) I 287: I must know who this girl is [...] could not you contrive to pump out of her footman [...] the name of his mistress? | ||
Disappointment II iv: But tell us, Moll, how the devil did you pump it out of him? | ||
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Pump [...] To pump; to endeavour to draw a secret from any one without his perceiving it. Your pump is good, but your sucker is dry; said by one to a person who is attempting to pump him. | |
Dict. Sl. and Cant. | ||
Hamlet Travestie I vi: You must pump him: If he won’t tell by fair means—why then—thump him. | ||
Bucktails (1847) IV iii: I’ll pump Paddy Whack the next time we meet – I will, by gum. | ||
Life in the West II 29: Harry.— ‘Your good health [...] Are you heavy upon the fight, sir?’ Harry was upon the ‘pumping order’. | ||
Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) 26 June 4/2: ‘By Gob! here comes the Colonel, we’ll pump him!’. | ||
Pickwick Papers (1999) 216: Undergoing the process of being pumped. | ||
Sam Slick in England I 139: They will be a-pumpin’ me for everlastinly, will the great men here, and they think a plaguy sight more of our opinion than you are aware on. | ||
Paul Pry 11 Dec. n.p.: The proprietor is a "cunning card," and ‘pumps’ his new customers, by asking sundry questions about horse-racing, &c. | ||
(con. 1843) White-Jacket (1990) 186: Observing the fellow to be in an agony of fear at the sight of the boatswain’s mates and their lashes, [...] the captain must have thought this a good opportunity for completely pumping him of all his secret. | ||
Ask Mamma 279: Finding the coast clear they now [...] took to pumping Billy as to his connection with the house. | ||
Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 52: You should have told me so before you began to pump me. | ||
Roughing It 67: The minute the boys go to pumping at Eckert [...] he shuts up his shell. | ||
‘’Arry on the Road’ Punch 9 Aug. 83/1: It isn’t for nothing, old chump, / As I ’se parted so free to the Coachies, and artfully put on the pump. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Mar. 9/3: Poor Mr Strong.He is being pumped upon with a fearful vengeance. | ||
Dundee Courier (Scot.) 29 Sept. 7/4: Paddy tried to pump Dr Mackenzie’s billboy, but the latter was not to be pumped. | ||
‘’Arry in the Witness-Box’ Punch 5 Feb. 61/2: The plaintiff [...] seemed to go slap orf ’is chump / And leaked orkurd facts like a sieve when the Counsel jest put on the pump. | ||
Truth (Sydney) 14 Jan. 6/6: I think it must have been the whiskey that made him open the secrets of his heart to me. I certainly pumped him. | ||
Amateur Cracksman (1992) 64: I had been able, in the most ordinary course, to pump poor Ewbank about anything and everything connected with the working of the bank. | ||
‘The Song of What Do You Think’ in Roderick (1967–9 II) 283: They wheedle to cackle and pump to spout, and they read on the cheap to write. | ||
Adventures of Jimmie Dale 33: Well, by pumping Moriarty, he admitted that Metzer had had a visitor about an hour after I left. | ||
Autobiog. of a Thief 37: Under my skilful ‘pumping’ he told me all about himself. | ||
Thieves Like Us (1999) 134: Some Law got to pumping him and he [...] let out that kind of a squawk. | ||
(con. 1944) Naked and Dead 552: She always giggles when I try to pump her. | ||
Madball (2019) 32: ‘[Y]ou’ve pumped me into doing more talking than you have’. | ||
Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 60: Now he had to pump Aunt Ada and find out how to empty the tub. | ||
With Hooves of Brass 49: [A]ll knew they could not hope to pump any bitchy gossip out of her. | ||
Howard Street 154: Thinking he was a cop trying to pump Jackie about who was doing what. | ||
(con. 1949) True Confessions (1979) 159: Pumping me [...] like I’m some sort of harp booby. | ||
Only Fools and Horses [TV script] He doesn’t know who the courier is, that’s what he was pumping me about. | ‘To Hull and Back’||
Filth 192: I’ve pumped the sorry cunt for more information about Bunty’s mental state. | ||
(con. 1964–8) Cold Six Thousand 376: Barb saw him pump Jimmy. | ||
Old Scores [ebook] Swann was asked to stick around and pump the journos. |
2. to duck someone under the pump, as a punishment.
Northern Lasse I iv: A Divell in a most gentlewomanlike apparition. It had been well to have pumpd her. Is shee gone? | ||
Ord. and Declar. both Ho., Lords Day 8: They conveyed him to the pump and pumpt him [OED]. | ||
Whores Dialogue 4: Oh! the Pump, the Pump, the very thought of a Pump put me in such a fine condition that I had need to have been to a Pump indeed to have made me sweet. | ||
Virtuoso II in Works (1720) I 345: Pump him soundly, impudent fellow! | ||
Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Pump [...] to drench, Bailives, Serjeants, Pick-pockets, &c. | ||
Lives of the Gamesters (1930) 143: He hath often undergone the penance of being [...] severely cuff’d, pull’d by the nose, and sometimes pump’d. | ||
Amorous Bugbears 10: Like a Dutchman in the Rasp-House, is forc’d to Pump or Drown. | ||
Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 339: They as unmercifully pump’d him and duck’d him in a Horse-Pond. | ||
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Pump [...] Pumping was also a punishment for bailiffs who attempted to act in privileged places, such as the Mint, Temple. It is also a piece of discipline administered to a pickpocket caught in the fact, when there is no pond at hand. | |
Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | ||
Eng. Spy I 410: He [...] after undergoing a most delightful pumping upon, was rough-dried by being tossed in a blanket. | ||
Paul Clifford II 107: He was pumped by the mob for the theft of a bird’s-eye wipe. | ||
Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 21: pump v. […]. To hold one under a pump, and drench. (Obsolete). |
3. (also pump up) to have sexual intercourse; thus n. pumping, pumped out, of a man, exhausted by sex [SE pump, to move vigorously up and down].
‘Gee ho, Dobin’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 204: I worked at her Pump till the Sucker grew dry, / And then I left pumping, a good Reason why. | ||
Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) 3 July 3/1: [P]ersuading an innocent young man to visit a house [...] for the purpose of pumping W.N.M.’s Caroline. | ||
Loves of Venus 37: We soon spent again with cries of delight [...] I was fairly pumped out for a time. | ||
letter 10 Jan. in Charters I (1995) 299: I glanced once out the backwindow as I pumped. | ||
(con. 1930s) Lawd Today 180: The white men carried their gals off and started pumping away. | ||
Kings Road 22: I don’t pump nameless bodies! | ||
Billy Rags [ebook] [H]is number two, a man called Jackie Smails, had started pumping up Ray’s wife every Wednesday afternoon [...] Come home, had his dinner, watched TV, taken Audrey upstairs and given her the usual pumping up. | ||
Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1994) 53: I’m pumping away. | ||
Drylongso 62: If I was a cracker I might say, ‘Hell with her. She’s not my color, so pump her!’. | ||
Straight Outta Compton 90: Diana’s booty is like the grand Canyon and I’m going to pump it until it runs dry. | ||
Chopper 4 9: The Richmond boys [...] seemed to be in two minds about what to do first, attack us or pump the girl. | ||
Kill Your Friends (2009) 70: He works late at the office pumping his way through her successors. | ||
Kill Your Friends (2009) 73: That’s all he’s got not, isn’t it? The pumping [...] No nose-up, no pills, no frosty beers. | ||
Bobby March Will Live Forever 105: ‘She pumping you for all the details?’ Realised what he’d said. ‘If you’ll pardon the expression’. |
4. to break wind.
DSUE (1984) 933/2: Scots; C.19–20. | ||
Viz June/July 24: Corks! I’ve pumped off my nose to spite my face! | ||
Get Your Cock Out 74: The four-eyed Scotch geggy pumped loudly and pushed his dirty glasses up his nose. |
5. to weep [SE pump, to raise up water].
Snarleyyow I 108: So let us leave all crying to the girls we leave on shore. / They may pump, / As in we jump / To the boat, and say ‘Good bye’. |
6. to exploit, to extort from.
Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act I: It would be a sin to drop such a beautiful milch cow! Suppose we pumped him in partnership. |
7. (US teen) to ride pillion on a motorcycle or scooter [ety. unknown].
Sl. U. 154: Hey, Jane, since you have a two-seater how about giving me a pump? |
8. (W.I.) to catch a free ride.
Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. |
Notes for Gloss. of Barbadian Dial. 92: Pump. To get a free ride or drive, as I wonder if I can pump a lift to town. |
9. (drugs) to sell crack cocaine [one ‘pumps’ it out].
Oz ser. 4 ep. 8 [TV script] You two fucks ain’t selling enough tits [...] You motherfuckers get pumping. | ‘You Bet Your Life’||
No Lights, No Sirens 120: I knew some Panamanian upstarts were out there [...] slinging, so [...] I used the cover of darkness to spy the Pano who was pumping this late in the evening. | ||
This Is How You Lose Her 97: The only job Rafa had ever was pumping to the Old Bridge whitekids. |
10. (US black) to play music loudly [one ‘pumps up the volume’].
Way Past Cool 24: CD deck pumping a Too Short rap. | ||
Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 21: The first time I heard someone driving by pumpin’ my first album. |
11. (UK black/gang) to shoot.
Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Pumping - shooting. | (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at
In derivatives
sexual intercourse.
Kings Road 22: He practically thought he was having pumpage with Royalty after your little sales-talk. |
1. usu. of music, hard-hitting, energetic, with a heavy bass line.
Crumple Zone 19: They just got a pumpin’ dance toon on the airwaves an’ all that’. |
2. (Aus.) full of excitement.
Peepshow [ebook] The place is pumping. |
In phrases
see sense 1 above.
1. (US gay) a gathering at which men enlarge their penises with vacuum pumps.
Male Body 47: In fact, the parallel world to ‘Iron Pumpers’ is ‘Vacuum Pumpers’ [...] Such size queens attend weekly ‘pumping parties,’ where they mix and mingle, all the while admiring the extended wares of the pumpees. |
2. (US) an illegal gathering at which cosmetic injections of silicone, botox, etc., are given.
in Vibe (Boulder, CO) Mar. 143/1: In 2001, Vera Lawrence, a 53-year-old Miami woman, died during one of these illegal ‘pumping parties’ after silicone was injected into her buttocks. | ||
Drawing Dead 373: Yeah, apparently there’s this thing that some guys do. They get the silicone. They inject it. Sometimes in their dicks, make them bigger. It’s called a pumping party. Ouch. | ||
Sideline Scandals 180: My mouth dropped to the floor when I noticed that man as he injected something into a woman’s breast. [...] ‘What the hell’s going on here?’ I asked no one in particular. ‘It’s a pumping party,’ someone answered. ‘Duh’. |
see under iron n.
to masturbate.
5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases. | ||
Queens’ Vernacular. |
1. (US Und.) to kill by shooting.
Green Ice (1988) 28: I see by the papers that Cherulli got pumped out. [Ibid.] 34: Red didn’t pump Donner out. |
2. see sense 1 above.
1. to vomit.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: | ||
, | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn). | |
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
2. to urinate; also as n., an act of urination.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: | ||
, | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: To pump ship; to make water and, sometimes, to vomit. | |
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn). | ||
Ulysses 321: So I just went round to the back of the yard to pumpship. | ||
(con. 1914–18) Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier. | ||
Right to an Answer (1978) 69: The men went out to pump ship. | ||
At Night All Cats Are Grey 67: The silly bugger must have folded up after having a pumpship. [Ibid.] 253: The three of us, lined up, shoulder to shoulder, as we pumpship against a rock. | ||
I’m a Jack, All Right 29: Think I’ll pump ship and have a bit of a walk around. | ||
(ref. to 1912) | Times Literary Supplement 17 Dec. n.p.: Sir, – Reviewing Nigel Jones’s sex-preoccupied ‘Rupert Brooke’... Elizabeth Lowry believes she learns from it that Brooke’s semen sometimes came out green. What Brooke wrote, in a 1912 letter, was ‘When I pumpship it’s bright green.’ In fact, to pumpship (a euphemism often used by my father, a cleric of Brooke’s generation) meant nothing more exciting than to urinate.||
Guardian 7 Jan. 18: Jones sees a reference to masturbation. In fact, to pumpship [...] meant nothing more than to urinate. |
(US black) to shake hands.
Jive and Sl. |
1. to exaggerate.
A Prisoner’s Tale 133: He took about two grand off us, pumped us right up about some help. | ||
Powder 40: Even though he’d pumped them up many, many times – for the first time Wheezer Finlay allowed the notion that he was working with a real band. |
2. (US black/campus) to make livelier, to fill with energy.
Do or Die (1992) 49: ‘Killin’ somebody, that make me higher.’ [...] ‘Kinda pumps you up.’. | ||
Source Aug. 131: You got to pump yourself up. |
3. to lift weights, to bodybuild.
Green River Rising 45: To his right [...] was where the blacks pumped up. |
4. (US gang) to express loyalty to.
(con. 1990s) in One of the Guys 99: ‘Everybody over there who in a gang over there, who pump up been pumping up for while’. |
(UK Und.) resistant of questioning.
Sl. Dict. |