bum
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
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)
- The buttocks.
- Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
- (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
- (buttocks or anus): arse (UK, Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Canada), ass (North America), backside, behind, bottom, butt (North America), heinie (North America), fanny (North America), tush (North America), tushie (North America)
- (buttocks specifically): butt cheeks (North America), buttocks (technical), nether cheek, arsecheek, asscheek, cheeks, glutes (muscles), gluteus maximus (primary muscles)
- (anus specifically): anus (technical), arsehole (UK, Irish, Australian, New Zealand), asshole (North America)
- See also Thesaurus:anus
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (Britain, transitive, colloquial) To sodomize; to engage in anal sex.
InterjectionEdit
bum
- (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.'
- 2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief:
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).
NounEdit
bum (plural bums)
- (US, Canada, colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.
- (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
- (US, Canada, Australia, 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.
SynonymsEdit
- (hobo): hobo, homeless person, tramp, vagrant, wanderer, vagabond
- (lazy person): loafer, bumpkin, footler, idler, lout, yob, yobbo, layabout
- (drinking spree): binge, bender
- See also Thesaurus:vagabond
- See also Thesaurus:idler
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
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.
- Can I bum a cigarette off you?
- (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.
- (transitive, slang, Britain) To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
SynonymsEdit
- cadge (British)
TranslationsEdit
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AdjectiveEdit
bum (comparative bummer, superlative bummest)
- Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
- bum note
- Unfair.
- bum deal
- Injured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
- I can't play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
- Unpleasant or unhappy.
- He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
QuotationsEdit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
SynonymsEdit
- (defective): duff (UK)
TranslationsEdit
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Derived termsEdit
Etymology 3Edit
Back-formation from bum out.
VerbEdit
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- To depress; to make unhappy.
ReferencesEdit
- “bum” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.
Etymology 4Edit
See boom.
NounEdit
bum (plural bums)
- (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)
- (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)
- (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.
- 1705, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “bum” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ “bum” in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 “bum” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021. (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"
- ^ “bottom” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.
AnagramsEdit
AlbanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From English boom with orthographic adaptation.
NounEdit
bum ?
IndonesianEdit
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
NounEdit
bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)
- boom barrier, boom gate
- (figuratively) customs.
- Synonym: pabean
Alternative formsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From English boom, onomatopoeic.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)
Further readingEdit
- “bum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.
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)
DeclensionEdit
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
PolishEdit
PronunciationEdit
InterjectionEdit
bum
PortugueseEdit
InterjectionEdit
bum!
- boom (sound of explosion)
Serbo-CroatianEdit
VerbEdit
bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
InterjectionEdit
¡bum!
- boom (used to suggest the sound of an explosion)
- boom (used to suggest something happening suddenly and unexpectedly)
See alsoEdit
Transylvanian SaxonEdit
NounEdit
bum m
ReferencesEdit
VolapükEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
bum (nominative plural bums)
- act of building
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
WelshEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (North Wales) IPA(key): /bɨ̞m/
- (South Wales) IPA(key): /bɪm/
NumeralEdit
bum
- 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. |