pumping

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of pump.

   The heart keeps pumping blood through the body every second of the day.

   Crews were pumping oil from the offshore well around the clock.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of the verb pump, from moving water to drawing out information by persistent questioning, as in pumping a witness for details. It follows be in progressive tenses and also fills noun slots as a gerund. Watch the object: in UK slang, pumping someone can mean having sex with them. Unlike the noun for the act, it never takes a plural.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The action of forcing a liquid or gas to move, especially by means of a pump.

   Heavy pumping of groundwater lowered the level of every well in the valley.

   Manual pumping was the only option whenever the electricity failed.

   Similarextraction

   Note

   The noun shifts between mass and count depending on whether the act is a process or a session. Uncountable, it names the activity in general. Countable, with the plural pumpings, it counts separate occasions, often sessions with a breast pump. Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett's Breastfeeding Made Simple (2010) advises tracking "the number of pumpings per day." The count use needs a context that makes each pumping a distinct event.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of injecting silicone into the body in an attempt to achieve a fuller or curvier appearance.

   Unlicensed pumping in backroom clinics has sent several patients to the hospital.

   The pumping gave her the curvier figure she wanted, but at considerable risk to her health.

   Similarinjection

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