The term pump for shoes is of unknown derivation according to the Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The reference can be to different types of shoe depending on the person using the word and the speaker's dialect:

• A type of athletic shoe:
  • In Britain it is one of many regional names for plimsoll shoes^[1] and as such was one of the ambiguous items requested in the Two Ronnies' sketch "Four Candles".
  • Athletic shoe equipped with inflatable air bladders are known as a pump sneaker, often shortened to pump.
• Shoes worn by dancers are called pumps. This is particularly true of Highland dancers.^{[citation needed]}
• In North America, pumps (court shoes in British English) are heeled shoes with low cut fronts and usually no fastening, but can also be formal shoes for both genders. The type of women's shoe referred to as a pump is somewhat similar in overall shape to the handles of old-fashioned manual well pumps, possibly accounting for the name.^{[citation needed]}

Black patent pumps, or alternatively tied black leather shoes, should be worn with a tuxedo. The word "pump" originates from the pomp related to the occasions on which they are worn

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