bum

/bəm/

/bəm/

Other forms: bums; bummed; bumming

Your bum is your bottom. This word can also be used to refer to a vagrant, although it's generally considered offensive or insensitive.

Bum is a name sometimes given to a beggar or vagrant: someone who tries to bum change from you. This word can also be used as a general insult, as in "The Yankees are bums!" (if you're a Red Sox fan) or "The Red Sox are bums!" (if you're a Yankees fan). A false accusation is a bum rap. As a verb, bum is a term for lazing around, as in, "I didn't have any homework this afternoon, so I just bummed around and played video games."

Definitions of bum

1. noun

   a disreputable vagrant
   “he tried to help the really down-and-out bums”

   synonyms: hobo, tramp

   types:

   dosser, street person

   someone who sleeps in any convenient place

   type of:

   drifter, floater, vagabond, vagrant

   a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support
2. noun

   person who does no work
   “a lazy bum”

   synonyms: do-nothing, idler, layabout, loafer

   types:

   clock watcher

   a worker preoccupied with the arrival of quitting time

   couch potato

   an idler who spends much time on a couch (usually watching television)

   dallier, dilly-dallier, dillydallier, lounger, mope

   someone who wastes time

   dawdler, drone, laggard, lagger, poke, trailer

   someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind

   daydreamer, woolgatherer

   someone who indulges in idle or absentminded daydreaming

   goldbrick, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, goof-off, ne'er-do-well, no-account

   an idle worthless person

   lazybones

   a lazy person

   lie-abed, slugabed

   a person who stays in bed until a relatively late hour

   loon

   a worthless lazy fellow

   shirker, slacker

   a person who shirks his work or duty (especially one who tries to evade military service in wartime)

   slug, sluggard

   an idle slothful person

   spiv

   a person without employment who makes money by various dubious schemes; goes about smartly dressed and having a good time

   sunbather

   someone who basks in the sunshine in order to get a suntan

   trifler

   one who behaves lightly or not seriously

   whittler

   someone who whittles (usually as an idle pastime)

   drone

   an idler who lives off of the work of other people

   lotus-eater, stargazer

   someone indifferent to the busy world

   dreamer, escapist, wishful thinker

   a person who escapes into a world of fantasy

   goldbrick

   a soldier who performs his duties without proper care or effort

   lingerer, loiterer

   someone who lingers aimlessly in or about a place

   malingerer, shammer, skulker

   someone shirking their duty by feigning illness or incapacity

   plodder, slowcoach, slowpoke, stick-in-the-mud

   someone who moves slowly

   potterer, putterer

   a person who putters about

   scrimshanker

   a shirker

   straggler, strayer

   someone who strays or falls behind

   type of:

   nonworker

   a person who does nothing
3. noun

   a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible
   “throw the bum out”

   synonyms: crumb, dirty dog, git, lowlife, puke, rat, rotter, skunk, so-and-so, stinker, stinkpot

   type of:

   disagreeable person, unpleasant person

   a person who is not pleasant or agreeable
4. verb

   be lazy or idle
   “Her son is just bumming around all day”

   synonyms: bum about, bum around, frig around, loaf, loll, loll around, lounge about, lounge around, waste one's time

   type of:

   idle, laze, slug, stagnate

   be idle; exist in a changeless situation
5. verb

   ask for and get free; be a parasite
   synonyms: cadge, grub, mooch, sponge

   types:

   freeload

   live off somebody's generosity

   type of:

   obtain

   come into possession of
6. adjective

   of very poor quality; flimsy
   synonyms: cheap, cheesy, chintzy, crummy, punk, sleazy, tinny

   inferior

   of low or inferior quality
7. noun

   the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
   synonyms: ass, backside, behind, bottom, buns, butt, buttocks, can, derriere, fanny, fundament, hind end, hindquarters, keister, nates, posterior, prat, rear, rear end, rump, seat, stern, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush

   type of:

   body part

   any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity