PUMP  ,1 a

machine which drives a liquid from one point to another, generally at different levels, the latter being usually the higher; an air-pump is an appliance for exhausting or 1 The word appears apparently first in English in the Promotorium Parvulorum,. c . 1440, of a ship's pump (hauritorium), in Dutch (pompe), a little later, dialectically, of a conduit pipe for water, but in the sense of a means of raising water it does not occur in Dutch or Ger. before the 16th century . The Fr. pompe is derived from Teat . The Ger. variant of Pumpe is Plumpe, which is generally taken as being an echoic word, imitating the sound of the plunger, but the primary notion seems to be that of a pipe or tube . Cf . Ital. term, tromba, i.e. trumpet, pipe (see the note on the word in the New English Dictionary) . The Puma (Felis concolor) . Central America it is still common in the dense forests which clothe the mountain ranges as high as 8000 or 9000 ft. above the sea level . Though an expert climber, it is by no means confined to wooded districts, being frequently found in scrub and reeds along the banks of rivers, and even in the open pampas and prairies . Its habits much resemble those of the rest of the group to which it belongs; and, like the leopard, when it happens to come within reach of an abundant and easy prey, as the sheep or calves of an outlying farming station, it kills far more than it can eat, either for the sake of the blood only or to gratify its propensity for destruction . It rarely attacks man, and when pursued escapes if possible by ascending trees . Several instances have occurred of pumas becoming tame in captivity .

Edmund Kean, the actor, had one which followed him about like a dog . When caressed pumas purr like domestic cats .