--- description: Merriam-Webster called out President Donald Trump on his claim that he came up with the expression "priming the pump" in a recent interview title: Merriam-Webster Is Trolling Donald Trump Over 'Priming the Pump' Remark image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Merriam-Webster to Trump: No You Didn't Invent This 1933 Phrase ## Video: TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2016-12-07. The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America._ by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 11, 2017 3:38 PM CUT by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 11, 2017 3:38 PM CUT [Merriam-Webster](http://time.com/4774687/merriam-webster-dictionary-politics-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/ "undefined") is continuing its tour of President Donald Trump’s word usage. Their latest effort to correct the President with facts involves the key phrase: “priming the pump.” In an interview with [_The Economist_](http://www.economist.com/Trumptranscript "undefined") published Thursday, Trump said he believed in his proposed tax cuts even if they cause short-term deficits because they would stimulate growth, an action he characterized as “priming the pump.” He went on to say he believed he created this particular phrasing. “Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just … I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good.” Merriam-Webster, which has seized every opportunity to mock Trump and other politicians by tweeting out definitions, sprang to action with the genesis of the expression in question. According to the dictionary company, this is not a new thing Trump invented. In fact, it appears to have started 13 years before he was born, and could contribute pump-priming to the lexicon. “‘Pump priming’ has been used to refer to government investment expenditures since at least 1933,” the dictionary’s Twitter account said. > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/862640442474672129) POTUS could have been joking, because he’s previously used the phrase back in [December at a speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-oHHblVqCA&t=1119 "undefined"), during a 2016 interview with [TIME](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/ "undefined") and on [Fox News in April](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI6Dh0J%5FTD4&t=389 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4775731/merriam-webster-donald-trump-priming-the-pump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4775731/merriam-webster-donald-trump-priming-the-pump/"},"headline":"Merriam-Webster to Trump: No You Didn't Invent This 1933 Phrase","datePublished":"2017-05-11T15:38:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:33.919Z","description":"\"'Pump priming' has been used to refer to government investment expenditures since at least 1933\"","url":"https://time.com/4775731/merriam-webster-donald-trump-priming-the-pump/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4775731/merriam-webster-donald-trump-priming-the-pump/","name":"Merriam-Webster to Trump: No You Didn't Invent This 1933 Phrase"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump","description":"The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Q0tBuF3M/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-07T12:09:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4775731/merriam-webster-donald-trump-priming-the-pump/","duration":"PT4M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4775731/merriam-webster-donald-trump-priming-the-pump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```