bum
nounverbinterjectionnounverbadjectiveverbnounverbnouncommon in dialogue
- //bʌm//
The buttocks.
noun
- 1
informalThe buttocks.
Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
- 2
informalThe anus.
John said that when he was little he stuck his finger in his bum and tasted his poopies and it was good.
What could the man possibly be hiding up his bum anyway?
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])?
[…] and said Daddy had put a finger up her bum.
- 3
slangAn act of anal sex.
Go for a bum
Etymology
Attested since the 1300s, as Middle English bom (found in John Trevisa's 1387 Translation of the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulph Higden, "his bom is oute"), of uncertain origin. 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. Suggested by some old and modern references to be onomatopoeic. Compare also Old Irish, Scottish Gaelic bun (“base, bottom”). The anal sex senses (noun and verb), as well as the adjective (esp. the first) sense, are expletive-avoiding (i.e. Bowdlerized) shortenings of bumfuck.
verb
- 1
To sodomize; to engage in anal sex.
Your bars are fake and my bars are real; / Is it true you got bummed on a field?
interjection
- 1
An expression of annoyance.
(more vulgar)
Maxine tried hers. ‘Oh bum,’ she said crossly. ‘The sugar isn’t sugar. It’s salt.’
noun
- 1
A homeless person, usually a man.
- 2
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!
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
- 3
A player or racer who often performs poorly.
Trade him to another team, he’s a bum!
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
A drinking spree.
Etymology
1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).
verb
- 1
[with off or (nonstandard) off of] To ask someone to give one (something) for free; to beg for something.
Can I bum a cigarette off you?
- 2
To stay idle and unproductive, like a hobo or vagabond.
I think I’ll just bum around downtown for a while until dinner.
- 3
slangTo wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
adjective
- 1
slangOf poor quality or highly undesirable.
What kind of bum note was that??
The defensive line made a bum rush on the quarterback.
"So I can see my finish with that firm when this bum show is over." "Well, I think you're silly, the way you go out of your way to get McIntyre's goat. You do, don't deny it."
- 2
slangUnfair.
The union reps gave us a bum deal!
- 3
slangInjured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
I can’t play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
- 4
slangUnpleasant or unhappy.
He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
verb
- 1
slangTo depress; to make unhappy.
Etymology
Back-formation from bum out.
noun
- 1
datedA humming noise.
Etymology
See boom.
verb
- 1
slangTo make a murmuring or humming sound.
English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees.
noun
- 1
obsoleteA bumbailiff.
About her Chariot, and behind, / Were Sergeants, Bums of every kind, / Tip-staffs, and all those Officers, / That squeeze a Living out of Tears.
Etymology
Abbreviation.
Forms
- plural
- bums
- comparative
- bummer
- superlative
- bummest
- past tense
- bummed
- past participle
- bummed
- present participle
- bumming
- third person singular
- bums