bum around
Loaf, wander idly, as in After graduating he decided to bum around Europe for a year. [Mid-1800s]
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.
QUIZZES
BECOME A PRO CHEF WITH THIS EXQUISITE CUISINE QUIZ!
Even if you can't be a professional chef, you can at least talk like one with this vocabulary quiz.
Question 1 of 9
You may have read the word "simmer" in a recipe or two, but what does it really mean?
Words nearby bum around
Bultmann, bulwark, Bulwer, Bulwer-Lytton, bum, bum around, bum bag, bumbailiff, bumbershoot, bumble, bumblebee
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.