I'm providing a description of the process of exercising with a dumbbell (from a video). I have come across a point where I've to describe the raising and lowering movement of the dumbbells as such,
Holding it [dumbbell] aloft, he raised and lowered it.
This feels very weird (because I'm going to be using the phrase repeatedly through the description), I'm looking to replace the phrase "raised and lowered" with a single word. Searching for it in a thesaurus yields this but it is of no use.
Best Answer
Bafflingly, I am not finding the relevant definition in any dictionary. But pumping involves a repeated back and forth, or up and down, motion. Literally speaking, the purpose is in order to get a system to a certain state, for example, to get enough air into a bicycle tire.
Think of pumping the brake when you hit an icy patch of pavement.