bicycle pump
- noun
- /ˈbaɪsɪkəl pʌmp/
- Hal climbed down into our cellar and searched among the bobbling detergent bottles and half-empty cans of historically correct paint for his old rubber dinghy and the bicycle pump.
Examples
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And what if, on that sunny afternoon, when Matt stopped by to see if anyone on the girls' side of the dorm could lend him a bicycle pump, I was, let's say, in the bathroom?
Fiction book (1999) -
He’s having trouble with his bicycle pump.
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- ... a bicycle pump...
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"They stick it in and move it up and down, like a bicycle pump.
Fiction book (1993) -
That was shaped like the half-section of a bicycle pump.
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The bicycle pump adapter is inserted in there in case she deflates.
Blog text (30) -
So you can pump this sprayer up with your bicycle pump if you don't have a compressor.
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He had five whole minutes to kill before jumping in the car and roaring off to Wesley for a bicycle pump, since Dooley's had turned up missing.
Fiction book (2000) -
To ride my bike, I need to inflate the tires with our bicycle pump.
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After a long ride, I used a bicycle pump to add air to my flat tire.
Synonyms
A machine that moves water or air to another place
A tool that moves air into or out of objects such as tires and balls
A device you use to pump air into a tire or air mattress
A hand pump that puts air into tires or balls
How Portable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a pump for a bicycle' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'bicycle' (a two-wheeled vehicle) with 'pump' (a device that forces air), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a pump used with bicycles. This kind of noun-noun composition (modifier + head) is common cross-linguistically and follows a standard descriptive pattern, making it easily comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Bicycle pump names a simple tool for a bicycle; the pump is a handle and tube you move up and down to push air into the tire. So it means 'a device for inflating the tires of a bicycle'.