bump
pronunciation
How to pronounce bump in British English:
UK [bʌmp]
How to pronounce bump in American English:
US [bʌmp]
-
- Noun:
- a lump on the body caused by a blow
- something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from a form
- an impact (as from a collision)
-
- Verb:
- knock against with force or violence
- come upon, as if by accident; meet with
- dance erotically or dance with the pelvis thrust forward
- assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
- remove or force from a position of dwelling previously occupied
Word Origin
- bump
- bump: [16] The earliest recorded sense of bump is ‘swelling, lump’, but the evidence suggests that the primary meaning is ‘knock’, and that this led on to ‘swelling’ as the result of being hit. It is not clear where the word came from, although it may be of Scandinavian origin; no doubt ultimately it imitates the sound of somebody being hit. The verbal sense ‘swell’, now obsolete, is probably responsible for bumper, which originally meant ‘full glass or cup’, and in the 19th century was extended to anything large or abundant (as in ‘bumper crop’).
- bump (n.)
- 1590s, "protuberance caused by a blow;" 1610s as "a dull, solid blow;" see bump (v.). The dancer's bump and grind attested from 1940.
- bump (v.)
- 1560s, "to bulge out;" 1610s, "to strike heavily," perhaps from Scandinavian, probably echoic, original sense was "hitting" then of "swelling from being hit." Also has a long association with obsolete bum "to make a booming noise," which perhaps influenced surviving senses such as bumper crop, for something full to the brim (see bumper). To bump into "meet" is from 1880s; to bump off "kill" is 1908 in underworld slang. Related: Bumped; bumping. Bumpsy (adj.) was old slang for "drunk" (1610s).
Example
- 1. The bump app lets you share details by tapping mobile phone handsets
- 2. You both simply open the bump app , choose what you to share , and then hold the phones in your hands and bump your hands together .
- 3. One bump I thought would send half of them tumbling into the road .
- 4. Included among these cells are hairs ( yup , leaves have hairs ) , any sort of bump or ornamentation , and most important , stomata .
- 5. Here the post-war flu pandemic is less a national calamity than an opportunity to bump off awkward characters .