bum

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See also bủm, and bụm

Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

1387, Unknown, but possibly Old Irish, Scottish Gaelic bun (“base, bottom”)

Noun [edit]

bum (plural bums)

  1. The buttocks.
    Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
  2. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) (rare, Canada, US) The anus.
  3. (by metonymy, informal) A person.
Quotations [edit]
Usage notes [edit]
  • In the United States and 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. For older children and teenagers, especially males, as well as adults, the term butt is the most common term 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 (US derivation of Old English arse) is considered somewhat vulgar in North America, while backside, behind, and bottom are considered to be old-fashioned and non-specific terms.
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
informal: buttocks or anus
informal: butt(ocks) specifically
anus specifically

Verb [edit]

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

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

Derived terms [edit]

Terms derived from senses associated with etymology 1

Etymology 2 [edit]

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

Noun [edit]

bum (plural bums)

  1. (North America, colloquial) A hobo; a homeless person, usually a man.
  2. (North America, 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!
  3. (North America, Australia, colloquial, sports) A player, usually a man, who often or usually plays poorly.
    Trade him to another team, he's a bum!
  4. (colloquial) A drinking spree.
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
hobo

Verb [edit]

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 behave like a hobo or vagabond; to loiter.
    I think I'll just bum around downtown for awhile until dinner.
  3. (transitive, slang, UK) To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to beg for something

Adjective [edit]

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.
    He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
Quotations [edit]
Synonyms [edit]
  • (defective): duff (UK)
Translations [edit]
of poor quality or highly undesirable
unfair
defective

Derived terms [edit]

Terms derived from senses associated with etymology 2

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)

  1. To depress; to make unhappy.

References [edit]

  • “bum” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Etymology 4 [edit]

See boom.

Noun [edit]

bum (plural bums)

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

Verb [edit]

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 5 [edit]

Abbreviations.

Noun [edit]

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.

Anagrams [edit]

Albanian [edit]

Noun [edit]

bum

  1. (economics) boom

Irish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page as described here.

Noun [edit]

bum m (genitive bum, nominative plural bumanna)

  1. (sailing) boom

Declension [edit]

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

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.

Lojban [edit]

Rafsi [edit]

bum

  1. rafsi of bumru.

Mizo [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

bum

  1. swindle
  2. cheat
  3. trick

Serbo-Croatian [edit]

Verb [edit]

bum

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

Spanish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection [edit]

bum

  1. boom

Volapük [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

bum (plural bums)

  1. act of building

Declension [edit]

declension of bum
singular plural
nominative bum bums
genitive buma bumas
dative bume bumes
accusative bumi bumis
predicative bumu bumus
vocative o bum! o bums!

Derived terms [edit]

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