bum

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /bʌm/
  • Audio (CA)
    		(file)
  • Audio (AU)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌm

Etymology 1Edit

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 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”).

NounEdit

bum (plural bums)

  1. The buttocks.
    Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
  2. (informal, rare) The anus.
Usage notesEdit
  • In Canada, bum is considered the most appropriate term 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.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

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

  1. (Britain, transitive, colloquial) To sodomize; to engage in anal sex.

InterjectionEdit

bum

  1. (Britain) An expression of annoyance.
    • 2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief:
      Maxine tried hers. 'Oh bum,' she said crossly. 'The sugar isn't sugar. It's salt.'

Derived termsEdit

Terms derived from senses associated with etymology 1

Etymology 2Edit

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

NounEdit

bum (plural bums)

  2. (US, Canada, colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.
  3. (US, Canada, Australia, colloquial) A lazy, incompetent, or annoying person, usually a man.
    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, The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
      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", Helloween, Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II.
      Man who do you just think you are? / A silly bum with seven stars
  4. (US, Canada, Australia, colloquial, sports) A player or racer who often performs poorly.
    Trade him to another team, he's a bum!
  5. (colloquial) A drinking spree.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

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

  1. (transitive, colloquial) To ask someone to give one (something) for free; to beg for something.
    Can I bum a cigarette off you?
  2. (intransitive, colloquial) To stay idle and unproductive, like a hobo or vagabond; to loiter.
    I think I'll just bum around downtown for awhile until dinner.
  3. (transitive, slang, Britain) To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

bum (comparative bummer, superlative bummest)

  1. Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
    bum note
  2. Unfair.
    bum deal
  3. Injured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
    I can't play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
  4. Unpleasant or unhappy.
    He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
QuotationsEdit
SynonymsEdit
  • (defective): duff (UK)
TranslationsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Terms derived from senses associated with etymology 2

Etymology 3Edit

Back-formation from bum out.

VerbEdit

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

  1. To depress; to make unhappy.

ReferencesEdit

  • “bum” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.

Etymology 4Edit

See boom.

NounEdit

bum (plural bums)

  1. (dated) A humming noise.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

VerbEdit

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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)

Etymology 5Edit

Abbreviations.

NounEdit

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.

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “bum” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ^ “bum” in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “bum” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021. (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. ^ “bottom” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.

AnagramsEdit

AlbanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English boom with orthographic adaptation.

NounEdit

bum ?

  1. (economics) boom

IndonesianEdit

 
Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Etymology 1Edit

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.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈbʊm]
  • Hyphenation: bum

NounEdit

bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)

  1. boom barrier, boom gate
  2. (figuratively) customs.
    Synonym: pabean

Alternative formsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From English boom, onomatopoeic.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈbʊm]
  • Hyphenation: bum

NounEdit

bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)

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

Further readingEdit

IrishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

NounEdit

bum m (genitive singular bum, nominative plural bumanna)

  1. (sailing) boom

DeclensionEdit

Declension of bum

Fourth declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative bum bumanna
Vocative a bhum a bhumanna
Genitive bum bumanna
Dative bum bumanna

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an bum na bumanna
Genitive an bhum na mbumanna
Dative leis an mbum

don bhum

leis na bumanna

SynonymsEdit

MutationEdit

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.

MizoEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

bum

  1. swindle
  2. cheat
  3. trick

PolishEdit

PronunciationEdit

InterjectionEdit

bum

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

PortugueseEdit

InterjectionEdit

bum!

  1. boom (sound of explosion)

Serbo-CroatianEdit

VerbEdit

bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)

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

SpanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Onomatopoeic.

PronunciationEdit

InterjectionEdit

¡bum!

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

See alsoEdit

Transylvanian SaxonEdit

NounEdit

bum m

  1. tree

ReferencesEdit

VolapükEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

bum (nominative plural bums)

  1. act of building

DeclensionEdit

declension of bum
singular plural
nominative bum bums
genitive buma bumas
dative bume bumes
accusative bumi bumis
vocative 1 o bum! o bums!
predicative 2 bumu bumus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

Derived termsEdit

WelshEdit

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

bum

  1. Soft mutation of pum (“five”).

MutationEdit

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.
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