ˈpump-ˌpriming, vbl. n. (and ppl. a.) orig. U.S.
[f. the phr. to prime a pump (see prime v.1 4).]
The stimulation of commerce or economy by means of investment; also transf. and attrib. or as ppl. adj.
| 1937 F. D. Roosevelt Public Papers & Addresses (1941) VI. 520 The things we had done, which at that time were largely a monetary and pump-priming policy.., had brought the expected result. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 5 Jan. 1/7 (heading) Eccles urges pump-priming to end slump. Ibid. 18 Feb. 15/1 Farm products seemed most likely to benefit from the next ‘pump-priming’. 1941 N. Alley I Witness xxxvi. 300, I spent a pump-priming week at Lisbon as the first step toward getting geared up for war coverage. 1950 Ann. Reg. 1949 161 Large development projects whose results would be out of all proportion to the ‘pump-priming’ required from U.N. 1960 Guardian 21 Oct. 24/6 The pump-priming period of the Welfare State. 1961 B. R. Wilson Sects & Society 9 The pump-priming activity of the revivalist to generate a distinctive form of religious expression. 1963 Daily Tel. 18 Jan. 12/2 To the financial purists, this appears as a bid for straightforward Keynesian pump-priming. Something of the sort is clearly required to stir the American economy out of its present sluggishness. 1978 M. Puzo Fools Die xxx. 351 He, Lieverman, would throw in the pump-priming cash, the development money. |
Hence ˈpump-ˌprimer, a financial grant or other action that stimulates economic enterprise.
| 1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 13 Aug. 9/3 Sir Greville Maginness suggests that the grants will act as ‘pump-primers’ and encourage the more backward firms. 1962 Times 11 May 17/6 Expansion..could be effective as a pump-primer for the economy of the region. 1979 Nature 4 Jan. 7/3 Finance has been a constant anxiety, for the initial grants from the Wolfson Foundation and other funds were pump primers. |