prime the pump

动词 v.
中文释义

英文释义

动词 v.
  1. To engage in deficit spending. idiomatic
    — […] 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.
  2. To give something in order to create the conditions where others will give in return. idiomatic,informal
    — 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.
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see prime, the, pump.

词形变化

primes the pump present,singular,third-person priming the pump participle,present primed the pump participle,past primed the pump past

词源

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