bum

• IPA^(key): /bʌm/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

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”).

bum (plural bums)

1. (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.
2. (informal or childish, chiefly Commonwealth) The 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.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:anus

• 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.

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.

bum

1. (UK) 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.'

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

bum (plural bums)

1. (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.

   Synonyms: tramp, vagrant, wanderer, vagabond; see also Thesaurus:vagabond

2. (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, 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

3. (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, 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”

4. (colloquial) A drinking spree.

   Synonyms: binge, bender

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.

   Synonyms: (British) cadge; see also Thesaurus:scrounge

   Can I bum a cigarette off you?

2. (intransitive, colloquial) To stay idle and unproductive, like a hobo or vagabond.

   Synonym: 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).

• → French: bummer

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.

   Synonym: (UK) duff

   I can't play football anymore on account of my bum knee.

4. Unpleasant or unhappy.

   He had a bum trip on that mescaline.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.

Back-formation from bum out.

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

1. To depress; to make unhappy.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

See boom.

bum (plural bums)

1. (dated) A humming noise.

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.
   • 1722, William Hamilton, The Wallace:

     English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees.

Abbreviations.

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.

• MBU, UMB, umb, umb-

From English boom with orthographic adaptation.

bum ?

1. (economics) boom

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

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.

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

1. boom barrier, boom gate
2. (figuratively) customs

• bom

• bea cukai
• duane
• kastam (Standard Malay)
• pabean

From English boom, onomatopoeic.

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.

• “bum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

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

bum m (genitive singular bum, nominative plural bumanna)

1. (sailing) boom

• crann scóide
• bumaile

• IPA^(key): /bum/

bum

1. swindle
2. cheat
3. trick

• IPA^(key): /bum/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: bum

bum

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

• bum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

bum!

1. boom (sound of explosion)

Onomatopoeic.

bum

1. boom

bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)

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

Onomatopoeic.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbum/ [ˈbũm]
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: bum

¡bum!

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

• pum
• pop

• “bum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

bum m

1. tree

• Siebenbürger Sachsen

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“ox”). Akin to Latin bōs.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “declension, and clearify the -ow-/-ō-”)

bum m (irregular)

1. ox
   • early 2^nd century BCE, Iguvine Tablets, table I, side A (photo; facsimile), lines 2–3:

     ² [...] 𐌐𐌓𐌄𐌅𐌄𐌓𐌄𐌔:​𐌕𐌓𐌄𐌐𐌋𐌀𐌍𐌄𐌔:​ ³ 𐌉𐌖𐌅𐌄:​𐌊𐌓𐌀𐌐𐌖𐌅𐌉:​𐌕𐌓𐌄𐌁𐌖𐌚:​𐌚𐌄𐌕𐌖:​ [...]

     preveres treplanes iuve krapuvi tre buf fetu

     In front of the Trebulan gate sacrifice three oxen to Jupiter Grabovius.

• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “bōs, bovis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 74–75
• Buck, Carl Darling (1904) A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian: With a Collection of Inscriptions and a Glossary, page 131
• Ancillotti, Augusto; Cerri, Romolo (2015), “bue”, in Vocabolario dell'umbro delle tavole di Gubbio [Vocabulary of Umbrian and of the Iguvine Tables] (in Italian), page 8

• IPA^(key): /bum/

bum (nominative plural bums)

1. act of building

• bumäd
• bumot

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /bɨ̞m/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /bɪm/

bum

1. Soft mutation of pum (“five”).