English

Noun

bum ‎(plural bums)

1. The buttocks.

   Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.

2. (Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal, rare, Canada, US) The anus.
3. (by metonymy, informal) A person.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:bum.

Usage notes

• 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 much 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.

Synonyms

• (buttocks or anus): arse (UK, Irish, Australian, New Zealand), ass (North America), backside, behind, bottom, bum (North America), 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), **** (North America)
• See also Wikisaurus:anus

Translations

Verb

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

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

Interjection

bum

1. (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.'

Derived terms

Etymology 2

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

Noun

bum ‎(plural bums)

1. (Canada, US, colloquial) A homeless person, usually a man.
2. (Canada, US, colloquial, derogatory) a hobo
3. (Canada, US, 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 **** on junk

     Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed

4. (Canada, US, 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 ‘bum’”

5. (colloquial) A drinking spree.

Synonyms

• (hobo): hobo, homeless person, tramp, vagrant, wanderer, vagabond
• (lazy person): loafer, bumpkin, footler, idler, lout, yob, yobbo, layabout
• (drinking spree): binge, bender
• See also Wikisaurus:vagabond
• See also Wikisaurus:idler

Translations

Verb

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, pejorative) To behave like a hobo or vagabond; to 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).

Synonyms

• cadge (British)

Translations

Adjective

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

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:bum.

Synonyms

• (defective): duff (UK)

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Back-formation from bum out.

Verb

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

1. To depress; to make unhappy.

References

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

Etymology 4

See boom.

Noun

bum ‎(plural bums)

1. (dated) A humming noise.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Verb

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

Abbreviations.

Noun

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

• UMB

Albanian

Noun

bum ?

1. (economics) boom

Irish

Noun

bum m ‎(genitive singular bum, nominative plural bumanna)

1. (sailing) boom

Declension

Synonyms

• crann scóide
• bumaile

Mutation

Lojban

Rafsi

bum

1. rafsi of bumru.

Mizo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bum/

Verb

bum

1. swindle
2. cheat
3. trick

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bum/

Interjection

bum

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

Portuguese

Interjection

bum!

1. boom (sound of explosion)

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

bum

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

Spanish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

bum

1. boom

Transylvanian Saxon

Noun

bum m

1. Tree

References

'http://www.siebenbuergersachsen.de/okessler.htm'

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bum/

Noun

bum ‎(plural bums)

1. act of building

Declension

Derived terms

• bumäd
• bumot

Welsh

Pronunciation

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

Numeral

bum

1. Soft mutation of pum ‎(“five”).

Mutation