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pump

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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.
  • 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)