From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchumchum /tʃʌm/ noun 1 FRIENDLY[countable] informal old-fashioned a good friend Freddie’s an old school chum of mine.2 [uncountable] small pieces of oily fish, used to catch other fish
Examples from the Corpus
chum• I think it helps if you have a chum out there.• I hardly knew Kapinsky, in fact I avoided him and his chums.• Pesci and Glover are longtime chums who win a fishing vacation in Florida.• We must also avoid branch meetings seem like a gathering of old chums into which an outsider might be shy of intruding.• Her school chums may disagree with her politics but they treat her respectfully and make sure their colleagues do, too.• I ran into an old high school chum.• It was during this time that James was able to reacquaint himself with another old school chum, Malcolm Nurse.school chum• From grade school chums in suburban Chicago to motel managers in Sacramento, folks remember him.• Her school chums may disagree with her politics but they treat her respectfully and make sure their colleagues do, too.• It was during this time that James was able to reacquaint himself with another old school chum, Malcolm Nurse.Origin chum 1. (1600-1700) Probably from chamber-fellow “someone sharing a room”2. (1800-1900) Origin unknown 