Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also Brumite) a resident or native of Birmingham; also attrib.

1823		Morn. Chron. (London) 3 Oct. 4/5: That prime little brum, but no counterfeit is expected [...] to be matched with Dick Hares for fifty pound aside.
1837		Bell’s Life & Sporting Chron. 23 Apr. 3/5: Among the ‘Brums’ Preston was an immense card.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 8 Jan. n.p.: The Brums began to look blue, and dropped their pimple a little.
1842		Bell’s Penny Dispatch 8 May 2/4: The gallant Brum, however, paid just as much attention to this observation as it deserved.
1842		Bell’s Penny Dispatch 8 May 2/4: Cries from the Brumites of ‘Don’t hit him foul, Johnny’.
1850		Bell’s Life in Sydney 17 Aug. 1/4: A good deal of money was laid out upon [‘the Birmingham slasher’] at six to four and in some instances the Brums ‘put the pot on’ [...] at six to four.
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 321: Nottingham is [...] very different to dirty Birmingham and the Brums [F&H].
1891		in Punch 28 Feb. 99: The ‘Brum’ and the Oologist / Were walking hand in hand.
1895		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 27: A ‘job’ perpetrated by a gang of Sheffielders, or a gang of ‘Brums’.
1904		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 3 Jan. 1/7: ‘Ten bob spent by a Brum fills his van’.
1914		E. Wittmann ‘Clipped Words’ in DN IV:ii 121: Brum, from Brummagem. [...] 4. An inhabitant of Birmingham.
1943		J. Phelan Letters from the Big House 60: Hey, Brum.

2. Birmingham.

1862		Worcs. Chron. 12 Nov. 4/1: We have just touched for a rattling stake of sugar (i.e. a large stake of money) at Brum .
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 108/2: Artful Allen, another of the shadows hanging around the ‘gun’s meets,’ [...] hailed from Brum.
1888		Sporting Times 8 Sept. 2/1: It is still Sunday when we get to Brum.
1896		E.W. Rogers [perf. Vesta Tilley] Only a Pair of Shoes 🎵 She’d suspicions in her noddle, off to Brum that night did toddle.
1917		Birmingham Mail 28 Sept. 4/3: [picture cpation] Chorus of Brummies. Here’s a jolly good luck to the Lady Mayoress’ Fund and old Brum.
1929		‘Henry Green’ Living (1978) 295: I’ll wait till I get back to Brum before I wash the dust off me of this bloody ’ouse.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 61: The best thing was to hang on to any dough you got and get a room in a town somewhere. Bristol or Brum.
1941		V. Hodgson Diaries (1999) 10 Apr. 151: Have been to Brum for Easter.
1956		F.B. Vickers ‘The Pommies Club’ in Drake-Brockman West Coast Stories (1959) 31: Ah, Birmingham. Dear old Brum.
1963		C. Wood ‘Prisoner and Escort’ in Cockade (1965) I iii: I thought it might be Brum.
1983		P. Reading ‘Englished iii’ in Diplopic 46: Brazen nick-nacks from Brum.
1994		C. Dexter Daughters of Cain (1995) 191: It was so quick to Brum now [...] they’d do it in an hour almost.
2006		D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 367: If you’re from Brum, you’re a Brummie. Brum’s Birmingham.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 66: The bird’s uncle, right [...] Got a travel agent’s, innit? Brum.

3. attrib. use of sense 2.

1885		‘’Arry on the Elections’ in Punch 12 Dec. 277/2: He’s worth ten Old Midlothian Muddlers, and twenty Brum Joes packed in one.
1943		M. Harrison Reported Safe Arrival 43: ‘Oi, Brum. Do yow wanna go whome?’ ‘Yow Cockney get!’ the Brum boys would answer. [...] The Brum Boys had to concede the title of a superior flyness to Penny and the other Cockneys.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 159: You develop a fierce Brum loyalty.

4. a Birmingham accent.

1991

D. Widgery Some Lives! 94: ‘Happy?’ he says in thick Brum.