bum - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Abbreviation of English Bulu, Cameroon.

bum

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Bulu (Cameroon).

Attested since the 1300s,[1][2][3] as Middle English bom[1] (found in John Trevisa's 1387 Translation of the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulph Higden, "his bom is oute"), of uncertain origin.[1] Sometimes suggested to be a shortening of botme, botom, bottum (“bottom”), but this is contradicted by the fact that bottom is not attested in reference to the buttocks until the late 1700s.[4][5] Suggested by some old[4] and modern references to be onomatopoeic.[3]

Compare also Old Irish, Scottish Gaelic bun (“base, bottom”).

The anal sex senses (noun and verb), as well as the adjective (esp. the first) sense, are expletive-avoiding (i.e. Bowdlerized) shortenings of bumfuck.

bum (plural bums)

  1. (informal or childish, chiefly Commonwealth)
    1. The buttocks.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks
      Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
    2. (specifically) The anus.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:anus
      • 2013, Steven L. Ablon, Daniel P. Brown, Edward J. Khantzian, Human Feelings: Explorations in Affect Development and Meaning, page 132:
        John said that when he was little he stuck his finger in his bum and tasted his poopies and it was good.
      • 2015, Jonathan Nicholas, Who'd be a copper?: Thirty years a frontline British cop:
        What could the man possibly be hiding up his bum anyway?
      • 2016, Lisa Keenan-Lindsay, Cheryl Sams, Constance L. O'Connor, Maternal Child Nursing Care in Canada, page 118:
        Do you have intercourse (i.e., Do you penetrate your partner in the vagina or anus [bum]? Or does your partner penetrate your vagina or anus [bum])?
      • 2017, Jean Renvoize, Innocence Destroyed: A Study of Child Sexual Abuse:
        […] and said Daddy had put a finger up her bum.
  2. (East Midlands, slang, vulgar) An act of anal sex.
    Synonym: bumfuck
    Go for a bum

informal: buttocks or anus

informal: butt(ocks) specifically

anus specifically

bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)

  1. (UK, Ireland, transitive, colloquial) To sodomize; to engage in anal sex.
    Synonym: bumfuck
    • 2016 December 3, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:
      Your bars are fake and my bars are real; / Is it true you got bummed on a field?

bum

  1. (UK, Ireland, childish, euphemistic) An expression of annoyance.
    Synonym: arse (more vulgar)
    • 2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief‎[2]:
      Maxine tried hers. ‘Oh bum,’ she said crossly. ‘The sugar isn’t sugar. It’s salt.’

1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).

bum (plural bums)(colloquial)

  1. (sometimes derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.
    Synonyms: street bum, tramp, vagrant, wanderer, vagabond; see also Thesaurus:vagabond
  2. (by extension, also sometimes derogatory) A lazy, incompetent, or annoying person, usually a man.
    Synonyms: loafer, bumpkin, footler; see also Thesaurus:idler
    Fred is becoming a bum—he’s not even bothering to work more than once a month.
    That mechanic’s a bum—he couldn’t fix a yo-yo.
    That guy keeps interrupting the concert. Throw the bum out!
    • 1987, “Fairytale of New York”, performed by The Pogues:
      You’re a bum / You’re a punk / You’re an old slut on junk / Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
    • 1988, Michael Weikath, “Keeper of the Seven Keys”, in Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II, performed by Helloween:
      Man who do you just think you are? / A silly bum with seven stars
  3. (sports) A player or racer who often performs poorly.
    Trade him to another team, he’s a bum!
  4. A drinking spree.
    Synonyms: binge, bender

hobo

player or racer who performs poorly

bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)(colloquial)

  1. (transitive) [_with_ off or (nonstandard) **off of**] To ask someone to give one (something) for free; to beg for something.
    Synonyms: cadge (British); see also Thesaurus:scrounge
    Can I bum a cigarette off you?
  2. (intransitive) To stay idle and unproductive, like a hobo or vagabond.
    Synonym: loiter
    I think I’ll just bum around downtown for a while until dinner.
  3. (transitive, British slang) To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).

to stay idle and unproductive

bum (comparative bummer, superlative bummest)(slang)

  1. Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
    Synonyms: bumfuck, lousy, subpar; see also Thesaurus:low-quality
    What kind of bum note was that??
    The defensive line made a bum rush on the quarterback.
    • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 4:
      "So I can see my finish with that firm when this bum show is over." "Well, I think you're silly, the way you go out of your way to get McIntyre's goat. You do, don't deny it."
  2. Unfair.
    Synonyms: iniquitous, unsporting
    The union reps gave us a bum deal!
  3. Injured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
    Synonyms: duff (British), janky, riven; see also Thesaurus:broken, Thesaurus:out of order
    I can’t play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
  4. Unpleasant or unhappy.
    Synonyms: foul, disagreeable, distasteful; see also Thesaurus:unpleasant

of poor quality or highly undesirable

Back-formation from bum out.

bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)

  1. To depress; to make unhappy.

This expression is typically found in the passive voice or with the dummy pronoun it; therefore, one might say such sentences as:

It really bums me when it rains on a weekend.

I get bummed every time my vacation ends.

But (usually) not:

Mosquitos and horseflies bum me every time I go to the lake. (Here not to be confused with to bug and synonyms.)

That song can really bum him and his brother.

See boom.

bum (plural bums)

  1. (dated) A humming noise.

bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)

  1. (intransitive) To make a murmuring or humming sound.
    • 1722, William Hamilton, The Wallace:
      English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees.

Abbreviation.

bum (plural bums)

  1. (obsolete) A bumbailiff.
    • 1705, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
      About her Chariot, and behind, / Were Sergeants, Bums of every kind, / Tip-staffs, and all those Officers, / That squeeze a Living out of Tears.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “bum”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ^ “bum”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. (which quotes the OED)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary (1890), "bum"
  5. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bottom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Borrowed from English boom with orthographic adaptation.

bum m

  1. (economics) boom

From Proto-Nuristani *bū́mi, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰúHmiš, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to be”).

bum (Sanu)[1]

  1. earth

  2. ^ Strand, Richard F. (2016), “b′um”, in Nûristânî Etymological Lexicon‎[1]

From Dutch slagboom (“boom barrier, boom gate”) or boom (“beam, barrier, tree, pole”). Doublet of bom.

bum (plural **bum-bum)

  1. boom barrier, boom gate (a bar or pole that can be lowered or raised to controll the traffic)
  2. (figurative) customs (government agency that handles taxes of imported goods)
    Synonyms: bea cukai, duane, pabean

From English boom, a onomatopoeic word.

bum

  1. (economics, business) boom (a period of prosperity, growth, progress, or high market activity)
    Synonym: duar

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bum m (genitive singular **bum, nominative plural bumanna)

  1. (sailing) boom

Mutated forms of bum

radical lenition eclipsis
bum bhum mbum

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *bum.

bum

  1. to swindle, cheat, trick

Onomatopoeic.

bum

  1. boom (sound of explosion)
  2. bang (any brief, sharp, loud noise)

Borrowed from Dutch boom.

bum m inan

  1. alternative form of bom

Borrowed from English boom.

bum m inan

  1. alternative form of boom

Onomatopoeic.

bum!

  1. boom (sound of explosion)

From English boom.

bum m (plural buns)

  1. boom (a rapid expansion or increase)
    • 2023, Djalma do Nascimento Sousa, chapter 145, in Memórias do Sul do Maranhão, Maranhão, published 2023, page VIII:
      O "bum" do gado só veio com a crise do arroz no final de 80 para início de 90;
      The cattle boom only came with the rice crisis in the late 80s and early 90s;

Onomatopoeic.

bum

  1. boom

bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)

  1. (Kajkavian) first-person singular future of biti

Borrowed from English boom or onomatopoeic

bum

  1. boom, bam

Onomatopoeic.

¡bum!

  1. boom (used to suggest the sound of an explosion)
  2. boom (used to suggest something happening suddenly and unexpectedly)

Borrowed from English boom.

bum m (plural bums)

  1. alternative form of boom

Transylvanian Saxon

[edit]

bum m

  1. tree

bum

  1. romanization of 𐌁𐌖𐌌

bum (genitive buma, plural bums)

  1. act of building

bum

  1. soft mutation of pum (“five”)