bump
Part of speech: noun
verb
intj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
broadcasting
business
card-games
chemistry
computing
engineering
games
government
hobbies
lifestyle
mathematics
media
military
mining
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
printing
programming
publishing
rowing
sciences
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sports
war
Etymology: From Early Modern English bump (“a shock, blow from a collision”), probably of North Germanic origin; compare Danish bump (“a thump”), Danish bumpe (“to thump”), Old Danish bumpe (“to strike with a clenched fist”), all probably of imitative origin.
Apparently related to Middle English bumben, bummen (“to make a hollow noise”), Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”), German Low German bumsen (“to bump, push”), German bummen (“to hum, buzz”), Icelandic bumba (“drum”). More at bum, bumble. Compare also bomb.
Inflected forms:
form: bumps
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: bumps
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: bumping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: bumped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: bumped
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A light blow or jolting collision.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: His car had a tiny bump with a moving bus.
gloss: The sound of such a collision.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He heard a loud bump and saw the front part of his car was broken and the driver of the other car was running to apologise.
gloss: A protuberance on a level surface.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A swelling on the skin caused by illness or injury.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: It had upon its brow / A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone.
gloss: One of the protuberances on the cranium which, in phrenology, are associated with distinct faculties or affections of the mind. Also (dated, metonymic) the faculty itself
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: the bump of veneration; the bump of acquisitiveness
Our task is to elevate the character of the people, raising up, in fact, their bump of self-esteem and suppressing the bumps of servility and fury.
Another, with the bump of order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all reduced, in binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his bookshelves.
gloss: The point, in a race in which boats are spaced apart at the start, at which a boat begins to overtake the boat ahead.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The swollen abdomen of a pregnant woman.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A post in an Internet forum thread made in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
pos: noun
tags: Internet
countable
uncountable
gloss: A temporary increase in a quantity, as shown in a graph.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: US presidential nominees get a post-convention bump in survey ratings.
gloss: A dose of a drug such as ketamine or cocaine, when snorted recreationally.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
examples: “They're getting their drugs mixed up,” she said. “If someone did a line of coke, it would be a very different size than if someone did a bump of ketamine, right? So if they're thinking it's cocaine and they do a line, they could go into a k-hole and be completely unable to move for hours. Maybe not hours, but for a while.”
gloss: A disco dance in which partners rhythmically bump their hips together.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: We sing […] "God Save the Queen" done in mime and finally "Clap Hands, Here Comes Charley" to a Hawaiian rock with Phoebe doing the bump.
gloss: In skipping, a single jump over two consecutive turns of the rope.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A coarse cotton fabric.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: A training match for a fighting dog.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The jaw of either of the middle pockets.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
gloss: Music, especially played over speakers at loud volume with strong bass frequency response.
pos: noun
tags: US
slang
uncountable
examples: Call me the juice and you know I'm a stunt; ride in the car with some bump in the trunk.
gloss: A short, self-promotional spot on a radio or television station.
pos: noun
tags: US
countable
uncountable
gloss: A reassignment of jobs within an organization (for example, when an existing employee leaves) on the basis of seniority.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: For example, chain bumping, in which a bump by one employee initiates a series of consecutive bumps down a progression line before a layoff results, produces the greatest average number of reassignments per redundant employee.
gloss: In the game of khanhoo, the act of claiming a newly discarded card when it is not one's turn, permitted when one can use the card to form a meld other than a sequence.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A minor problem or difficulty.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
countable
uncountable
examples: "I'll try my best, but we still have a few bumps to work out," Ryder muttered.
gloss: A sudden movement of underground strata, preceded by a characteristic sound.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To knock against or run into with a jolt.
pos: verb
examples: Their car got bumped while they were turning at the junction.
gloss: To move up or down by a step; displace.
pos: verb
examples: I bumped the font size up to make my document easier to read.
gloss: To post in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
pos: verb
tags: Internet
examples: As in [the online forum] carersvoicesnz, certain contributors were more visible, taking the initiative to "bump" the thread to bring it back into view if it went quiet.
gloss: To suddenly boil, causing movement of the vessel and loss of liquid.
pos: verb
tags: physical
examples: Heat until the liquid bumps, then reduce the heat and continue the boiling for 1½ hours.
gloss: To move (a booked passenger) to a later flight because of earlier delays or cancellations.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Easyjet said the compensation package for passengers bumped off flights was 'probably the most flawed piece of European legislation in recent years' […]
gloss: To move the time of (a scheduled event).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: A colleague emails with news that her 4:30 meeting got bumped to 3:30.
gloss: To pick (a lock) with a repeated striking motion that dislodges the pins.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To increase (a version number).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To make a loud, heavy, or hollow noise; to boom.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
examples: as a bittern bumps within a reed
gloss: To spread out material so as to fill any desired number of pages.
pos: verb
tags: dated
gloss: To assassinate; to bump off.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: You know about the night the kid bumped Brody?
gloss: To displace (another employee in an organization) on the basis of seniority.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Employees with 2 years or more, and less than 8 years plant seniority, may bump a probationary employee.
gloss: To anger, irritate.
pos: verb
tags: colloquial
dated
examples: After his ancestors had been browbeaten by the Puritans, and his ancestors had been driven out by the early pioneers [...], if he learned that a magnificent bronze statue is to be erected to his ancestors; wouldn't it bump an Indian?
gloss: In the game of khanhoo, to claim a newly discarded card when it is not one's turn, permitted when one can use the card to form a meld other than a sequence.
pos: verb
gloss: To play music through a speaker, often loudly and in public.
pos: verb
tags: slang
gloss: To encounter and stop, to catch.
pos: verb
tags: US
slang
gloss: To move while bumping up and down, as a cart or car does on rough ground.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The car bumped over the dirt road.
gloss: Posted in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
pos: intj
tags: Internet
Derived words: bumpable
bump across
bump and grind
bump and jump
bump and run
bump down
bumpee
bump elbows
bumper
bump into
bump key
bump nasties
bump off
bump on
bump purses
bump uglies
bump up
chest-bump
fist bump
rebump
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: kuhmu
lang: French
word: bosse
lang: Russian
word: шишка
roman: šiška