From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbumbum1 /bʌm/ ●○○ noun [countable] informal 1 British EnglishHBH the part of your body that you sit on SYN bottom2 American EnglishPOORHOME someone, especially a man, who has no home or job, and who asks people for money3 → beach/ski etc bum4 LAZYsomeone who is very lazy5 → get/put bums on seats6 → give somebody the bum's rush
Examples from the Corpus
bum• Parke Puterbaugh and Alan Bisbort are beach bums and proud of it.• You envision a California beach bum.• Quigley peered down at its bum.• A couple of bums were passing a bottle in a doorway.• The same bums in the same pound seats.• She's always complaining about her husband, but she won't throw the bum out.• I thought the members had been waiting, just waiting, for the chance to throw the bums out.• Throw out those bums, and get some people willing to get results.bumbum2 verb (bummed, bumming) [transitive] British English informal ASK FOR something/ASK somebody TO DO somethingto ask someone for something such as money, food, or cigarettes SYN cadge She bummed a little cash off me. → bum around→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
bum• In a cabin soaked in pure oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure for five hours, almost anything bums.• I think Steve managed to bum a lift home.• BTheodora sees Johnny up the street, bums a little change, then heads to a nearby liquor store.• I bummed a ride from Sue.• Please help me out before I shrink, fade or bum all my new does.• He's always bumming drinks off people and it really gets on my nerves.• He spent a whole year bumming from friends, crashing in strange places, selling weed with pals to make his bread.• For the last 18 months of his life, he bummed money, cigarettes and sympathy from his friends.• Then he laughed, and Petey felt it was worse that Ted had laughed, because afterward he seemed bummed out.• Once empty the external tank is jettisoned and will bum up in the atmosphere.bumbum3 adjective [only before noun] informal 1 DO BADLYbad and useless The orchestra was excellent. No one played a bum note. Jim got a bum deal (=unfair treatment).2 → a bum ankle/leg etcExamples from the Corpus
bum• He gave me a lot of bum advice.• It's going to be a bum deal all through for poor Cliffy.• The board also urged the courts to impose the maximum fines on bum landlords.• I moved the bum leg then, limped toward the door, and I started to spin.• It really was bum shooting, Jack.a bum deal• It's going to be a bum deal all through for poor Cliffy.Origin bum1 (1800-1900) Probably from bummer “bum” ((19-20 centuries)), perhaps from German bummler “lazy person” 