Definition of "pump-handle" []

• The handle or lever attached to the piston-rod of a pump for moving the piston up and down. (noun)
• A wooden or iron piece running back on both sides of a carriage-body to support it on the rear springs. It is usually made with an ornamented or scrolled end. Sometimes called a brake. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "There was the pump-handle gesture; the wringing-wet - clothes gesture; and then the voice, oddly detached from the little figure and tremendously magnified by the loudspeaker, went booming and bawling round the hall: Justice!"
• "In fact he worked it up and down like a pump-handle."
• "Her wet pocket-handkerchief, and the sight of her little back heaving up and down like a pump-handle, sobbing for what was denied her, screwed my nerves up."