pump

English has two words spelled pump: the machine for moving liquids, and the light shoe.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pʌmp/^[4]

pump¹ machine for moving fluids

Etymology

The machine is Middle English pomp, pumpe, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch pompe (“water conduit, pipe”) or Middle Low German pumpe (“pump”),^[1][5][3] from a sailors' word of the North Sea, possibly imitative of the sound of the plunger.^[5][6] Hoad finds the evidence too thin to say whether the word was first in English or Low German,^[2] and MWU traces the Dutch word probably to Spanish bomba, of imitative origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A ship's pump: 1420 as pomp and 1427 as pumpe in Barnhart,^[1] the early 15th century in Etymonline;^[5] the earliest uses refer to raising bilge water from ships.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline finds it odd that the word appears so late, since pumps are ancient.^[5] The verb, to work a pump, is from 1508,^[1][3] and figuratively to question someone persistently, to extract information, from the 1630s.^[5] The heart was called a pump by 1796,^[7] and in physiology a molecular mechanism that moves ions across a cell membrane is a pump from 1947.^[7][8] Pumped up is by 1792, and to pump iron, to lift weights, by 1972.^[5]

Timeline

• 1420 – a ship's pump.^[1]
• 1508 – the verb.^[1][3]
• 1630s – to pump a person for information.^[5]
• 1796 – the heart as a pump.^[7]
• 1947 – a pump in a living cell.^[7]
• 1972 – pump iron.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A machine or device for raising, moving or compressing liquids or gases.
2. (biology) A mechanism that moves ions or molecules across a cell membrane.
3. An act of pumping.

Verb

1. To raise or move a liquid or gas with a pump.
2. To move up and down like a pump handle.
3. To question someone persistently to get information.
4. To pour or inject in large amounts: pump money into a scheme.

Word family

• pumper
• pump room
• pumped

pump² light shoe

Etymology

The shoe is of unknown origin.^[1][2][3][5] Etymonline mentions guesses that it imitates the sound of walking in such shoes or comes from Dutch pampoesje, from Javanese, and Klein's sources propose a link with pomp;^[5] Barnhart finds early suggestions of a link with pomp, ornament, too obscure to support.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light close-fitting slipper-like shoe: 1555.^[1][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The name passed to a shoe of the same kind with a very low heel, favoured, the OED says, by dancers, couriers, acrobats and duellists.^[5] In Britain it is a plimsoll or a light shoe for dancing or gymnastics; in North America it is a woman's low-cut shoe without fastenings, a court shoe.^[6][9] The Irish phrase keep your toe in your pump meant keep quiet.^[10]

Timeline

• 1555 – a light, close-fitting shoe.^[1][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A woman's low-cut shoe with no fastenings, usually with a heel; a court shoe.
2. (British) A light shoe for dancing or gymnastics; a plimsoll.

Related words

• pomp

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)