pump up

1. 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.”

2. Inflate with gas or air, as in This tire needs pumping up . [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

Kelly reminds us that “Morning Joe” “helped pump up Trump’s first run for the White House starting in 2015 when he consistently called into their show. She even played a clip of Scarborough saying he would be open to serving as Trump’s running mate….”

From Salon

He rose to prominence with Belgium-based Technotronic in the late 1980s, co-writing the smash hit album Pump Up The Jam, which sold more than 14 million copies in its first year.

From BBC

Maybe that's just one big feint but I'm guessing that's the true Vance game plan: attack Walz as a San Francisco hippie, hit Biden and Harris and pump up Trump.

From Salon

Trump later suggested that immigrants had been allowed in the country as part of a scheme to pump up voting for Democrats.

From Los Angeles Times

“And I think even if he hadn’t been attacked, there’s a possibility he would have gone to try to pump up his ratings. He did everything he could to pump up Monday night’s ratings that are lower than the Monday night ratings of his 2016 convention.”

From Salon

Related Words

• block
• clog
• close
• cram
• crowd
• furnish
• lade
• load
• overflow
• pack
• permeate
• saturate
• store
• stuff
• supply
• swell
• top