<B>pumpkin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a large roundish, orange-yellow fruit of a vine, used for making pies, as a vegetable, as food for stock, and for jack-o'-lanterns. <DD><B> 2. </B>the coarse, trailing vine with broad, prickly leaves that it grows on. It belongs to the gourd family. <DD><B> 3. </B>any one of certain large squashes that resemble the pumpkin in shape and color. <BR><I>expr. <B>some pumpkins</B> (or <B>punkins</B>), </I>(U.S. Informal.) a person or thing of considerable consequence. <BR> <I>Ex. She is some punkins, that I wun't deny, For ain't she some related to you 'n' I? (James Russell Lowell). A man whose sneer can do all that is clearly some pumpkins (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pumpkinpine">
<B>pumpkin pine,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a variety of white pine noted for the fine grain of its wood. <BR> <I>Ex. ... an antique dining table carved from pumpkin pine (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pumpkinseed">
<B>pumpkinseed, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the flattish, oval seed of a pumpkin. <DD><B> 2. </B>a small freshwater sunfish of North America, mostly orange in color but with a bright red spot above the pectoral fin. </DL>
<A NAME="pumpoxygenator">
<B>pump-oxygenator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a mechanical device which oxygenates the blood and circulates it throughout the body, taking over the functions of the heart and lungs during major chest surgery; heart-lung machine. </DL>
<A NAME="pumppriming">
<B>pump priming,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>government expenditure, especially on public works, intended to stimulate business and thus to relieve depression and unemployment. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) any act or process intended to produce an effect. <BR> <I>Ex. [The speech] was, in fact, a kind of strenuously suggestive pump priming, and before long a rising roar of chants started to pulse from rally to rally (New Yorker).</I> adj. <B>pump-priming.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pumprod">
<B>pump rod,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the piston rod of a pump. </DL>
<A NAME="pumproom">
<B>pump room,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a room or building where a pump is worked. <DD><B> 2. </B>a room or place at a spa or mineral spring where the water is dispensed, as for drinking. </DL>
<A NAME="pumpwell">
<B>pump well,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a well having a pump. <DD><B> 2. </B>a compartment containing the pumps of a ship. </DL>
<A NAME="pun">
<B>pun</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>punned,</B> <B>punning.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the humorous use of a word where it can have different meanings, or of two or more words with the same or nearly the same sound but different meanings; play on words. <BR> <I>Ex. "We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately" is a famous pun by Benjamin Franklin.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar use of images, as in photography or art. <BR> <I>Ex. visual puns.</I> <DD><I>v.i., v.t. </I> to make puns. </DL>
<A NAME="pun">
<B>pun</B> (2), transitive verb, <B>punned,</B> <B>punning.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British Dialect.) to pound; reduce to powder by beating; beat. </DL>
<A NAME="puna">
<B>puna, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a high, arid plateau, in the Peruvian Andes. <DD><B> 2. </B>sickness due to high altitude. </DL>
