bum
Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
Adjective
- Of 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." - 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?,...
Synonyms: bumfuck lousy subpar ass bad base below par bottom-shelf BTEC bum cheap cheap and nasty cheapshit cheesy chintzy coffee-and crap crappo crappy craptastic crapperific craptabulous craptacular cruddy
- Unfair.
- The union reps gave us a bum deal!
Synonyms: iniquitous unsporting
- Injured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
- I can’t play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
Synonyms: duff janky riven banjaxed broken bum busted fractured ruptured bad borked broken-down bung cactused crocked dead Donald Ducked down faulty flaky FUBAR fucked fuckered up inoperative
- Unpleasant or unhappy.
- He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
Synonyms: foul disagreeable distasteful abhorrant abhorrent bad bum vile demonic disgusting rancid fulsome gooey grim gro grody gross grotty harsh loathsome munted nasty nauseous offensive
Origin
1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).
Forms
Derived
bum trip beach bum bum around bum calf bum deal bum factory bumhood bummery bummy bum note bum rap bum rush bum-rush bumsicle bum's rush bum steer corporate welfare bum on the bum saddle bum saddle-bum saddlebum schooner bum shovelbum ski bum
Interjection
- An expression of annoyance.
- (more vulgar)
- Maxine tried hers. ‘Oh bum,’ she said crossly. ‘The sugar isn’t sugar. It’s salt.’ - 2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief:
Synonyms: arse
Origin
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.
Derived
bare-bum belfie builder's bum bum bag bumbaste bum boy bumboy bum-breathing bum-bum bum bum bum burp bum cheeks bum chin bum chum bum cleavage bum-clock bum crack bum-fluff bumfluff bum fluff bum-fluffed bumfodder bum fodder bumfoolery
Noun colloquial, derogatory
- A homeless person, usually a man.
Synonyms: street bum tramp vagrant wanderer vagabond bum stiff casual clochard derelict dero down-and-out down-and-outer drifter epithite floater gadling hobo Jack out of doors knight of the road landleaper landloper landlouper nomad
- 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!
Synonyms: loafer bumpkin footler bum couch potato dawdler deadbeat dogfucker do-naught do-nothing dosser idler idleton faineant flaneur get-nothing goldbricker goof-off lallygag lollygagger laggard layabout lazy ass lazybones
- 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” - 2001, Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend:
- A drinking spree.
Forms
Noun Commonwealth, childish
- The buttocks.
- Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
Synonyms: 'tocks arse arse cheeks ass ass cheeks back backside batty behind blessed assurance booty botty bottom bum bum cheeks buns butt butt cheeks buttocks caboose cheeks derriere dicky fanny
- The anus.
- John said that when he was little he stuck his finger in his bum and tasted his poopies and it was good. - 2013, Steven L. Ablon, Daniel P. Brown, Edward J. Khantzian, Human Feelings: Explorations in Affect Development...
- What could the man possibly be hiding up his bum anyway? - 2015, Jonathan Nicholas, Who'd be a copper?: Thirty years a frontline British cop:
- 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])? - 2016, Lisa Keenan-Lindsay, Cheryl Sams, Constance L. O'Connor,...
Synonyms: a-hole anus arsehole arse asscunt asshole asspussy ass back alley back door back passage balloon knot batty batty hole bootyhole bottom brown eye browneye bumhole bum bung-hole bunghole bungus butthole
- An act of anal sex.
- Go for a bum
Synonyms: bumfuck
Forms
Noun colloquial, obsolete
- A 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. - 1705, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
Origin
Abbreviation.
Forms
Derived
Noun colloquial, dated
- A humming noise.
Origin
See boom.
Forms
Verb colloquial, transitive
- [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?
Synonyms: cadge beg blag bum leech mooch mump scrounge scunge sponge tap wheedle
- To stay idle and unproductive, like a hobo or vagabond.
- I think I’ll just bum around downtown for a while until dinner.
Synonyms: loiter
- To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
Forms
Verb Ireland, UK
- 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? - 2016 December 3, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:
Synonyms: bumfuck
Forms
Verb colloquial, slang
- To depress; to make unhappy.
Origin
Back-formation from bum out.
Forms
Verb colloquial, intransitive
- To make a murmuring or humming sound.
- English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees. - 1722, William Hamilton, The Wallace: