bum1
- a person who avoids work and sponges on others; loafer; idler.
- a tramp, hobo, or derelict.
- Informal. an enthusiast of a specific sport or recreational activity, especially one who gives it priority over work, family life, etc.: a ski bum; a tennis bum.
- Informal. an incompetent person.
- a drunken orgy; debauch.
- Informal. to borrow without expectation of returning; get for nothing; cadge: He's always bumming cigarettes from me.
- Slang. to ruin or spoil: The weather bummed our whole weekend.
- to sponge on others for a living; lead an idle or dissolute life.
- to live as a hobo.
- of poor, wretched, or miserable quality; worthless.
- disappointing; unpleasant.
- erroneous or ill-advised; misleading: That tip on the stock market was a bum steer.
- lame: a bum leg.
- bum around, Informal. to travel, wander, or spend one's time aimlessly: We bummed around for a couple of hours after work.
- bum (someone) out, Slang. to disappoint, upset, or annoy: It really bummed me out that she could have helped and didn't.
- on the bum, Informal.
- living or traveling as or in a manner suggesting that of a hobo or tramp.
- in a state of disrepair or disorder: The oven is on the bum again.
Origin of bum1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bum on Thesaurus.combum1
- British slang the buttocks or anus
Word Origin
bum2
- a disreputable loafer or idler
- a tramp; hobo
- an irresponsible, unpleasant, or mean person
- a person who spends a great deal of time on a specified sportbaseball bum
- on the bum
- living as a loafer or vagrant
- out of repair; broken
- (tr) to get by begging; cadgeto bum a lift
- (intr often foll by around) to live by begging or as a vagrant or loafer
- (intr usually foll by around) to spend time to no good purpose; loaf; idle
- bum someone off US and Canadian slang to disappoint, annoy, or upset someone
- (prenominal) of poor quality; useless
- wrong or inappropriatea bum note
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for bum around
bum
n.1
"buttocks," late 14c., "probably onomatopœic, to be compared with other words of similar sound and with the general sense of 'protuberance, swelling.' " [OED]
bum
n.2
"dissolute loafer, tramp," 1864, American English, from bummer "loafer, idle person" (1855), probably from German slang bummler "loafer," from bummeln "go slowly, waste time." Bum first appears in a German-American context, and bummer was popular in the slang of the North's army in the American Civil War (as many as 216,000 German immigrants in the ranks). Bum's rush "forcible ejection" first recorded 1910.
bum
bum
adj.
"of poor quality," 1859, American English, from bum (n.). Bum steer in figurative sense of "bad advice" attested from 1901.
Idioms and Phrases with bum around
bum around
1
Loaf, wander idly, as in After graduating he decided to bum around Europe for a year. [Mid-1800s]
2
Frequent bars or nightclubs, as in Her father accused her of bumming around half the night and threatened to cut off her allowance. In the mid-1800s to bum was slang for going on a drinking spree. A century later, with the addition of around, it simply meant going to saloons or clubs.
bum
In addition to the idioms beginning with bum
- bum around
- bum out
- bum rap
- bum steer
also see:
- on the blink (bum)