bummock

English

Etymology

For the sense relating to alcohol: from or cognate to Scots bummock (“a brewing of drink; the liquor so brewed”), perhaps from Scots bummie, bummo, a vessel for holding liquid, itself perhaps from Old Norse, compare Icelandic bumba (“drum”).

For the sense relating to ice, perhaps compare how keel can mean either a similar ice structure or a brewer's vat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌmək/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

bummock (plural bummocks)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A brewing of ale.
2. A submerged, downward-projecting piece of ice.
   • 1884, United States House, Miscellaneous Documents: 30th Congress, 1st Session - 49th Congress, 1st Session, page 666:

     Q. Are there not October gales which often separate the bummocks of ice and allow ships to pass on! - A. Decidedly. I do not know what the direction of the wind was at the time, but if the wind was going from the land, then he would […]

   • 1912, The Illustrated London News, page 338:

     The ice "bridge" which broke was formed of great bummocks of ice welded together at the foot of the great cataract, […]

   • 1975, Nathaniel Bowditch, American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation, page 834:

     The most important ice features are the frequency and extent of downward projections (bummocks and ice keels) from the underside of the ice canopy (pack ice and enclosed water areas from the point of view of the submariner) […]

Further reading

• 1969, The Review:

  […] Bummocks - ice pieces that project down from the ice canopy, can be seen from a submarine […]