Dictionary

prime the pump en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio

Etymology

As an idiomatic term, from the 1930s. From the metaphor of filling (priming) a liquid pump in order to prepare it for operation.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To engage in deficit spending.
   • […] by supplying, through the Federal Treasury, a sufficient flow of finance and currency that will prime the pump and keep it going until it can start its flow from the well or fountain of national resources. 1935, Congressional Record, page 4087:
2. (idiomatic, informal) To give something in order to create the conditions where others will give in return.
   • A good way to prime the pump of generosity is by starting with the intangibles such as a smile, or a simple courtesy such as opening a door for someone or extending some other random act of kindness. 2011, Dennis Merritt Jones, The Art of Uncertainty: How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It, →ISBN:
   • For example, if you give money to a charity, as a tax reduction or to prime the pump for more money to flow to you, than the actual intent is not making someone else happy, but yourself. 2001, Asa E. Lennon, The Forgotten Self: A Book of Reminders, →ISBN, page 112:
   • Kate primed the pump by telling the story of Dina teaching her to rappel. 2002, Dana Stabenow, A Fine and Bitter Snow, →ISBN, page 180:
   • If you're starving for some admiring comments, you might have to prime the pump. 2012 -, Poppy Smith, Why Can't He Think More Like Me?, →ISBN:
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see prime, the, pump.

Forms

Relateds

pump-prime