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Phrase Meanings » pump up
What does "pump up" mean?
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Inflate with gas or air, as in This tire needs pumping up. [Late 1800s]
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Fill with enthusiasm, strength, and energy, as in The lively debate pumped us all up. Mary Wollstonecraft used this idiom in slightly different form in The Rights of Women (1792): “Lover-like phrases of pumped-up passion.”