chum 1[chuhm] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- a close or intimate companion: boyhood chums.
- a roommate, as at college.
verb (used without object), chummed, chum·ming.
- to associate closely.
- to share a room or rooms with another, especially in a dormitory at a college or prep school.
Origin of chum 1First recorded in 1675–85; of uncertain origin chum 2[chuhm] noun
- cut or ground bait dumped into the water to attract fish to the area where one is fishing.
- fish refuse or scraps discarded by a cannery.
verb (used without object), chummed, chum·ming.
- to fish by attracting fish by dumping cut or ground bait into the water.
verb (used with object), chummed, chum·ming.
- to dump chum into (a body of water) so as to attract fish.
- to lure (fish) with chum: They chummed the fish with hamburger.
Origin of chum 2An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; of uncertain origin chum 3[chuhm] noun
Related Words for chums crony, comrade, buddy, playmate, associate, pal, mate, companion, sis, bro, co-mate Examples from the Web for chums Contemporary Examples of chums
Once chums and collaborators, they had irretrievably drifted apart.
Doug Kenney: The Odd Comic Genius Behind ‘Animal House’ and National Lampoon
Robert Sam Anson
March 1, 2014
“Cressida has said Kate is not keen on her relationship with Harry,” one of her chums tells the Telegraph’s Richard Eden.
Is Kate Middleton Trying to Block Cressida And Harry’s Marriage Plans?
Tom Sykes
September 11, 2013
Habitually unable to contain his choleric temper, Kennedy cut loose when addressing his former Harvard chums in 1937.
“The Patriarch”: Joseph Kennedy Sr.’s Outsized Life
Jacob Heilbrunn
November 21, 2012
Whether out for date night or lunch with chums, the restaurant-hopping first couple exude a heady sense of glamour and excitement.
Sandra McElwaine
May 30, 2009
Historical Examples of chums
He certainly did enjoy action more than any one of the chums.
With Trapper Jim in the North Woods
Lawrence J. Leslie
I saw one of my chums going past the end of the street, sir, and I ran after him.
Mrs. Henry Wood
His chums looked at him, wondering at the emphasis he put in his words.
Allen Chapman
His chums, coming to the city to pay him a visit, could not find him.
Allen Chapman
“You worked that pretty slick,” Jim said, as the chums approached him.
Allen Chapman
British Dictionary definitions for chums chum 1 noun
- informal a close friend
verb chums, chumming or chummed
- (intr usually foll by up with) to be or become an intimate friend (of)
- (tr) Scot to accompanyI’ll chum you home
Word Origin for chum C17 (meaning: a person sharing rooms with another): probably shortened from chamber fellow, originally student slang (Oxford); compare crony chum 2 noun
- angling, mainly US and Canadian chopped fish, meal, etc, used as groundbait
Word Origin for chum C19: origin uncertain chum 3 noun
- a Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus keta
Word Origin for chum from Chinook Jargon tsum spots, marks, from Chinook Word Origin and History for chums chum n.1
“friend,” 1680s, originally university slang for “roommate,” from alternative spelling of cham, short for chamber(mate); typical of the late-17c. fondness for clipped words. Among derived forms used 19c. were chumship; chummery “shared bachelor quarters,” chummage “system of quartering more than one to a room.”
chum n.2
“fish bait,” 1857, perhaps from Scottish chum “food.”