bum
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
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”).
Noun edit
bum (plural bums)
- (informal or childish, chiefly Commonwealth) The buttocks.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks
- Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
- (informal or childish, chiefly Commonwealth) 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.
Usage notes edit
- While bum is most common in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, in Canada, bum is mainly used when speaking to young children, as in Everyone please sit on your bum and we'll read a story. In the United States, bum is not often used in this sense (though this may vary from dialect to dialect) except in conscious imitation of British English. The term butt is the most common term in North America except in professional contexts such as medical, legal, and scientific where buttocks is generally used or gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, etc. for the muscles specifically. Glutes is often used in sports medicine and bodybuilding. Ass (originally a dialectal variant of arse) is considered vulgar in North America, whereas backside, behind, and bottom are considered to be non-specific terms.
Translations edit
|
|
|
Verb edit
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (UK, Ireland, transitive, colloquial) To sodomize; to engage in anal sex.
- 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
Interjection edit
bum
- (UK, Ireland, childish, euphemistic) An expression of annoyance.
- Synonym: arse (more vulgar)
- 2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief[1]:
- Maxine tried hers. 'Oh bum,' she said crossly. 'The sugar isn't sugar. It's salt.'
Derived terms edit
- bare-bum
- beach bum
- builder's bum
- bum bag
- bum boy
- bum-breathing
- bum bum
- bum-bum
- bum burp
- bum calf
- bum cheeks
- bum chum
- bum-clock
- bum crack
- bum deal
- bum fluff
- bumfluff
- bum-fluff
- bum-fluffed
- bum fodder
- bum fuck nowhere
- bum-fuck nowhere
- bum gun
- bum head
- bumhole
- bum roll
- bum-rush
- bum rush
- bum sex
- bums in seats
- bum-squabble
- bum squabble
- bum squabbled
- bum steer
- bum-sucker
- bum-sucking
- bum wine
- front bum
- head down, bum up
- kick up the bum
- land with one's bum in the butter
- pain in the bum
- saddle-bum
- saddle bum
- ski bum
- squeaky bum time
Etymology 2 edit
1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).
Noun edit
bum (plural bums)
- (colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.
- Synonyms: tramp, vagrant, wanderer, vagabond; see also Thesaurus:vagabond
- (colloquial, 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 (lyrics and music), “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
- (colloquial, sports) A player or racer who often performs poorly.
- Trade him to another team, he's a bum!
- 2001, Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend:
- Seabiscuit, wrote another reporter, “was a hero in California and a pretty fair sort of horse in the midwest. In the east, however, he was just a ‘bumʼ”
- (colloquial) A drinking spree.
Translations edit
|
Verb edit
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (transitive, colloquial) To ask someone to give one (something) for free; to beg for something.
- Synonyms: (British) cadge; see also Thesaurus:scrounge
- Can I bum a cigarette off you?
- (intransitive, colloquial) 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.
- (transitive, slang, British) To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
Descendants edit
Translations edit
|
Adjective edit
bum (comparative bummer, superlative bummest)
- (slang) Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
- bum note
- (slang) Unfair.
- a bum deal
- (slang) Injured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
- Synonym: (UK) duff
- I can't play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
- (slang) Unpleasant or unhappy.
- He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
Quotations edit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
Translations edit
|
Derived terms edit
Etymology 3 edit
Back-formation from bum out.
Verb edit
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- To depress; to make unhappy.
References edit
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Etymology 4 edit
See boom.
Noun edit
bum (plural bums)
Verb edit
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (intransitive) To make a murmuring or humming sound.
- 1722, William Hamilton, The Wallace:
- English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees.
Etymology 5 edit
Abbreviation.
Noun edit
bum (plural bums)
- (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.
References edit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “bum”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ “bum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. (which quotes the OED)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary (1890), "bum"
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bottom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams edit
Albanian edit
Etymology edit
From English boom with orthographic adaptation.
Noun edit
bum
Indonesian edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Dutch slagboom (“boom barrier, boom gate”) or boom (“beam, barrier, tree, pole”), from Middle Dutch bôom, from Old Dutch bōm, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz. Doublet of bom.
Noun edit
bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)
Alternative forms edit
Synonyms edit
Etymology 2 edit
From English boom, onomatopoeic.
Noun edit
bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)
Further reading edit
- “bum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.
Irish edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun edit
bum m (genitive singular bum, nominative plural bumanna)
Declension edit
Synonyms edit
Mutation edit
Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
bum | bhum | mbum |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Mizo edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
bum
Polish edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Interjection edit
bum
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
bum m inan
- Alternative form of bom
Declension edit
Etymology 3 edit
Noun edit
bum m inan
- Alternative form of boom
Declension edit
Further reading edit
Portuguese edit
Pronunciation edit
- Rhymes: -ũ
- Hyphenation: bum
Etymology 1 edit
Interjection edit
bum!
- boom (sound of explosion)
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
bum m (plural buns)
- 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;
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Interjection edit
bum
Serbo-Croatian edit
Verb edit
bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Interjection edit
¡bum!
- boom (used to suggest the sound of an explosion)
- boom (used to suggest something happening suddenly and unexpectedly)
See also edit
Further reading edit
- “bum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Transylvanian Saxon edit
Noun edit
bum m
References edit
Umbrian edit
Romanization edit
bum
- Romanization of 𐌁𐌖𐌌
Volapük edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bum (nominative plural bums)
- act of building
Declension edit
Derived terms edit
Welsh edit
Pronunciation edit
- (North Wales) IPA(key): /bɨ̞m/
- (South Wales) IPA(key): /bɪm/
Numeral edit
bum
- Soft mutation of pum (“five”).
Mutation edit
Welsh mutation | |||
---|---|---|---|
radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
pum | bum | mhum | phum |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |