pumped

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of pump.

   The crew pumped thousands of gallons from the flooded cellar overnight.

   He had pumped the brakes twice before the car finally slowed.

   Note

   Regular in every form, so the spelling alone never tells the two roles apart: the crew pumped the cellar dry, but the cellar had been pumped. The auxiliary does that work. The questioning use takes a person as object and for before what is sought (they pumped him for names). This same spelling is also the base for the "excited" adjective and its siblings.

2. 2
   adjectiveslang

   Filled with eager excitement and energy, especially right before an event.

   Fans were pumped as the band finally walked onstage.

   She felt pumped after acing the interview that morning.

   Similarexcited, psyched, thrilled, stoked, elated

   Oppositedeflated, dejected, bored

   Note

   Clipped from pumped up, and squarely slang: fine among friends or in a locker room, out of place in formal writing. It usually takes for before the event ahead (pumped for the game on Friday). It also grades freely, so a speaker can be so pumped, more pumped or most pumped. The longer pumped up means the same and is just as casual.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Of the muscles, swollen and firm from increased blood flow right after intense exercise.

   The bodybuilder's biceps stayed pumped for nearly an hour after his routine.

   By the final rep, his forearms were fully pumped and rock-hard.

   Similarswollen, engorged

   Note

   The gym's version of the same clipping names the temporary fullness a hard set leaves in a muscle. Here the subject is usually the muscle itself (his arms were pumped), whereas the "excited" meaning describes a person's mood. A lifter who says I'm pumped could mean either, and context decides. Pumped up serves for this sense too.

4. 4
   adjective

   Of a climber's forearms, so fatigued that gripping the holds becomes difficult or impossible.

   Her arms were too pumped to make the final move, so she dropped onto the rope.

   Climbers often get pumped on overhanging routes where the forearms never get a rest.

   Similarexhausted, tired, drained, weary, spent

   Oppositefresh, rested

   Note

   Climbing turns the gym's word around. Where the bodybuilder's sense is a point of pride, this one is a warning. A pumped climber's forearms are too tired to hold even the jugs, the big generous holds, so I'm pumped halfway up a route means trouble, not excitement. Climbers say they get pumped, the way one gets tired, and exhausted and weary are the everyday equivalents.

5. 5
   adjective

   Having a pair of pumps, the type of shoe, on one's feet.

   Note

   A dressing-up word that Dickens uses in Dombey and Son (1846–48), where he lines up young gentlemen "tightly cravatted, curled, and pumped" for a dance. It belongs with adjectives made from what someone has on, and it does not grade: nobody is more pumped in this sense. Today the "excited" meaning is heard first, so wearing pumps is the safer phrasing.

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