But US President Donald Trump appears to be laying claim to the phrase for himself.
In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, he used the metaphor to describe his hopes for tax reform.
Then he asked: "Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven't heard it. I mean, I justâ€¦ I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It's what you have to do."
His claim immediately raised eyebrows.
Or, as The New York Observer put it: "The Entire Internet Is Trolling President Trump Over 'Priming the Pump."
Far from being a Trump-coined neologism, priming the pump has a long history in economic theory and was in widespread use by the 1930s.
It's most often associated with John Maynard Keynes, the influential British economist who urged public spending to stimulate a weak economy.
Newspapers also made the comparison during the presidency of Herbert Hoover, who was in office during the Wall Street Crash.
Early Thursday morning, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Twitter account struck back, noting: "'Pump priming' has been used to refer to government investment expenditures since at least 1933."
The Oxford English Dictionary identifies the phrase used in a business context even earlier, quoting a 1916 edition of Everybody's Mag: "When the waters of business are stagnant, gentlemen, it becomes necessary, if I may say so, to prime the pump."
The White House press office did not respond to an email seeking clarification on Mr Trump's comments.
But even Mr Trump has a longer history with the expression.
A non-exhaustive internet search revealed he used it in a speech in December and in earlier interviews with Time and The New York Times.

Harmer finished with match figures of 14-172, as the county champions lost their last five wickets for 10 runs.
Nick Compton's 120 off 303 balls had helped Middlesex recover from 51-3, putting on 153 with Paul Stirling (55).
But they slumped from 252-5 to 262 all out as Division One leaders Essex won by an innings and 34 runs.
South Africa international Harmer, who returned career-best figures of 14-128 in last week's win over Warwickshire, has now taken 47 wickets in eight matches this season.
Middlesex began the day on 27-0, still needing another 273 runs to avoid an innings defeat, and got off to the worst possible start when Nick Gubbins (16) was caught by Alastair Cook.
Harmer next saw off Stevie Eskinazi (12) who was caught by Varun Chopra at leg slip, diving forward with one hand after Cook had parried the ball at slip, while Dawid Malan soon followed for one.
Compton steadied the ship and completed his first century of the season from 232 balls, but was trapped leg before to become Harmer's 11th wicket of the game and Middlesex subsided.
They lost their last four wickets in 27 balls, sending Essex 29 points clear at the top of the Division One table.

It says Tariq al-Harzi was responsible for co-ordinating suicide bombings in Iraq and moving weapons from Libya to Syria.
The US had offered a $3m (Â£1.9m) reward for the man it called the "emir of suicide bombers".
IS has not commented on the reports of his death.
Harzi was allegedly killed in the northern-eastern Syrian town of Shaddadi on 16 June.
The US Treasury Department had placed him on a sanctions list after designating Harzi as a "global terrorist".
It is thought that he had assisted foreign fighters from the UK, Albania, and Denmark.
He also raised funds for the group, including $2m from a single Qatar-based donor.
A Pentagon spokesman said Harzi's death was a blow to Islamic State.
"His death will impact [IS's] ability to integrate foreign terrorist fighters into the Syrian and Iraqi fight as well as to move people and equipment across the border between Syria and Iraq," Capt Jeff Davis said in a statement.
In June the Pentagon said it had killed Harzi's brother in a drone strike.
Ali al-Harzi was a person of interest in the investigation of the 2012 bombing of the US consulate in Benghazi in Libya. The US says he was killed in a drone strike in the IS stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Students of 1930s economics are no strangers to the idea of 'priming the pump' - public spending to get the economy back on its feet.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Spinner Simon Harmer took a career-best 9-95 as Essex beat Middlesex with just moments of a dramatic final evening at Chelmsford remaining.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A senior member of the Islamic State (IS) group has been killed in an American drone strike in Syria last month, according to the US military.