bump v.1
1. in sexual contexts.
(a) (US campus, also bump off) to have sexual intercourse; thus bumped adj.; bumping n.; bump and grind
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | (trans.) Rabelais II 26: There escape not one unbump’d by me, breasted and jum’d after the ordinary fashion of man and woman, in the Venetian conflict. | |
| Northern Ladd in Roxburghe Ballads (1874) II 368: A lusty Plowman may he be, the Lad that bumps the bed with me. | |
| Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 188: Tho’ faith it odd is / For mortal man to bump a Goddess. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘A Vacation’s Job’ in A Hasty Bunch 187: He may be getting too much bumping from that widow Brown he knows. | |
| et al. CUSS 91: Bumped off, get Have sexual intercourse. | |
| Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1994) 53: So we’re humping and bumping. | |
| Sl. U. | |
| Straight Outta Compton 50: I bumped her booty hard until I reached the point where I almost dropped dead. | |
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 jungle fever Definition: the attraction between a member of the african race, and the white caucasian. Example: Where’s your boy? Oh jungle fever? Probably bumpin his black beauty, word. | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] One love. All that. Bump that. |
(b) (US) to impregnate.
| Amer. Mercury May 84: She had to blame somebody for bumping her [W&F]. | |
| , | | DAS. |
| 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases. |
(c) (W.I., Baha.) to work as a prostitute.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. |
2. in fig. uses of ‘knock’ (into, over etc).
(a) (US) to terminate a relationship (with).
| Billy Baxter’s Letters 49: If some guy cuts in on your steady, you are going out to her home, and you are going to call her fine and plenty, aren’t you? And unless she promises to bump the other fellow, you are going to leave her in a rage, aren’t you? | |
| UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 2: BUMP — forget about, leave: X: ‘The guy I like was talking to another woman last night’ Y: ‘Oh, no. Bump him’. |
(b) (Aus./US, also bump someone’s head) to get the better of, to outdo, to deceive.
| Lantern (N.O.) 20 Oct. 3: Poor Charles Ernest is so stuck on a fairy named Emma Brown, that she can make him do anything she wishes. Some days ago she bumped his head for stuff, and a few nights ago pulled his leg for more. | |
| Lantern (N.O.) 20 Aug. 3: Fred, I’m sorry to tell you that your chippie is only bumping you for what she can get. | |
| Forty Modern Fables 159–60: Four Haggard Beings, scantily Clad, sat at the Table and weakly endeavoured to Bump one another. | |
| Gamblers’ Gold (1931) 82: I’ll bump you every time. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘The Battle of the Wazzir’ in Moods of Ginger Mick [unpub. unrevised proof version] An’ it stood there thro’ the ages; an’ it might be standin’ still / If it ’adn’t bumped a clean cove, name o’ Bill. | |
 | N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 26 June 23: [A] well-heeled westerner was bumped for $1750 cold cash. | |
| Sun (Sydney) 29 Sept. 15/1: Old Brissie the star-gazing gov bumped one of the schemozzles which nearly drove Mac off his scone . | |
| Central Sl. 13: Bumpin’ your head Lying. To tell untruths [...] ‘I didn’t slam that car, man, I ain’t bumpin’ your head.’. |
(c) to meet, to accost.
| ‘’Frisco Kid’s Story’ in High School Aegis X (15 Feb.) 2–3: I was mopin’ down de main drag [...] w’en I bumped up against de kid wid de yaller hair. | |
| Out for the Coin 15: Uncle Peter put it all over old Bill Gray whenever they bumped. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Aug. 14/2: Don’t know what sort of bull-ants ‘Jack Plane’ has bumped [...], that they should annoy him at this time of the year, for mostly they are doing their winter sleep about now, and have as much fight in them as a pound of tea. | |
| Songs of a Sentimental Bloke gloss. 🌐 Bump – To meet; to accost aggressively. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 5 Dec. 6/2: We bumped Chips Rafferty in town one morning this week. | |
| Compleat Migrant 105: Bump: to accost. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 231: bump 1. Meet. 2. Encounter unexpectedly. |
(d) to dismiss an employee, or someone from a team.
| John Henry 87: I saw that I was out to get bumped if I didn’t forget my fears. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 19 June 1/1: That especially tearful farewells were taken of the bound-to-be-bumped Nanson and Gregory. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Nov. 44/2: Australian writers who try to better their working conditions are familiar with the threat that ‘selected instead of original matter’ will be used, and that they will thereby be bumped, bashed, or chucked. | |
| ‘A West Texas Word List’ in DN IV:iii 224: bump, v. to reject. | |
| Salvation of Jemmy Sl. I i: Here’s hopin’ I don’t get bumped before the week is out. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 41: bump.–To displace a junior from a prized job, usually on a railway, where seniority rules the roost very strictly. It is now generally used to explain a worker’s shift in employment when his place has been taken by an older man in length of service. | |
| Playback 164: They got bumped off the staff of the hospital. | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 48: bumped – Blew the gig; the cat was fired; he was sacked. | |
| (con. 1940s) Tattoo (1977) 124: One of the guys had been bumped for a case of the clap. | |
| Guardian G2 16 Aug. 22: You can see why D-list Kirby got bumped. | |
| Robbers (2001) 101: Wharton was a former highway patrolman who’d got bumped on too many complaints. | |
| Call of the Weird (2006) 138: I can just show up because I’m the hottest one there. [...] But tonight they had eleven girls there and would’ve had to bump one. |
(e) (US black) to criticize, to attach verbally.
| ‘Eat’ 🎵 And to the ones who turned on me, man I still love you / Keyz said ‘bro fuck ’em they gon’ still bump you’. |
(f) (Scots teen) to obtain for free.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Young Team 118: [M]akin sure naebody was thievin or bumpin the rides. |
3. in the context of violence.
(a) to kill; to murder.
| Martha and I 46: There is one haughty beast with a swell rig and a swivel eye whom I would give pounds to bump. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 21: bump [...] Current among heavyweights and desperate characters chiefly, though understood by grafters generally. To kill. | |
| No Man’s Land 239: You’ll find you won’t be able to do what you like when you bump Master Boche. | |
| (con. 1918–19) Beginning of Wisdom 297: It’s getting bumped by somebody you can’t see that’s the bum idea. | |
| ‘His Last Day’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 295: A sucker got in the way and I bumped him. | |
| Amboy Dukes 120: Only six days after they had bumped Bannon they had almost been trapped. | |
| One Lonely Night 60: What about the guy Oscar bumped? | |
| Scene (1996) 209: ‘You said you used to turn him on.’ [...] ‘That don’t make me know who bumped him.’. | |
| Tell Morning This 219: [I]t was very natural that she should threaten to bump [Judge] Aumbry. | |
| Jones Men 141: Teddy ups with a roscoe and bumps Dooney. | |
| Crack War (1991) 75: Yeah, we bumped the bitch in Connecticut. | |
| Official and Doubtful 342: Do you think he might try bumping you out of the way too? | |
| Stump 53: — I can’t bump anyone. I don’t have it in me to waste anyone. | |
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Bump - kill. |
(b) to shoot dead.
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 21: He copped a cuter and got bumped making a get-away. | |
| (con. 1943–5) To Hell and Back (1950) 22: I itch to bump some krauts. | |
| Gonif 79: The stick-up nut can get riddled or wind up bumping some Dick. |
(c) to beat up.
| Varmint 127: Why you’re the cuss that smeared the Angel, swallowed the Canary, and bumped Tough McCarty, all at once. | |
| Gem 30 Sept. 20: ‘Oh, bump him!’ exclaimed Jack Blake. ‘What’s the use of wasting words on a bounder like that? Collar him and bump him!’. | |
| Lingo 45: The many other terms for fighting give an idea of the importance of this activity in larrikin life. bump, comb down, dish, dong, tob, spike, sort out, stonker, rip into, do, go the knuckle on, weigh into, wipe and quilt. |
(d) to fight successfully, to defeat.
| , | | DAS. |
| ‘Home Rooms’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 3 [TV script] You want to bump with Marloe? | |
| ‘Home Rooms’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 3 [TV script] If we gonna bump with them, its gotta be all of us. |
4. to increase.
(a) (also bump up) to increase a prison sentence.
| He Died with His Eyes Open 133: So then I appealed against sentence [...] and they bumped it up to seven. | |
| Homeboy 85: The lady judge bumped up her felony docket on account of all her priors. |
(b) (also bump up) to increase wages or, in gambling use, a bet.
| Man with the Golden Arm 117: Jacks bump a buck. | |
| Associated Press 20 Aug. n.p.: After [...] six months they bumped me to $100 a week [W&F]. | |
| Gambling Secrets of Nick The Greek 24: Nick bumped the action, 1,500. | |
| At End of Day (2001) 16: I never been a guy saw any point in bumping up the count so high guy can’t see no way out. | |
| ‘Dead Soldiers’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 3 [TV script] Let me bump overtime. | |
| Stick a Fork In Me 213: ‘They voted to bump you up from eight-fifty to a million two immediately’. |
(c) to move someone or something up or down a queue, appointment calendar, story list etc.
| Funk and Wagnalls New College Standard Dict. 157/1: Bump [...], to deprive (a passenger) of airplane transportation in favor of a later but more important traveler. | |
| Close Quarters (1987) 304: He was supposed to be on that Bravo Company [...] ambush, but was bumped by some poor dude who had to do it for punishment. | |
| Skin Tight 165: I’ve got a lipo tomorrow at two, but I’m going to bump him for you. | |
| Clockers 191: Sharon had moved into his old bedroom [...] bumping him to the sofa. | |
| Guardian Guide 8–14 Jan. 12: He has bumped his plan into the rather less grandiose category of New Year’s Resolution. | |
| Hard Bounce [ebook] Cassandra’s death had made the front page for a couple days, then been bumped to page three by the end of the week. | |
| Headland [ebook] ‘You’ll be bumped. Sorry about that [...] Till we find you another slot’. |
(d) (also bump up) to promote by rank, wealth or social position.
| , | | DAS. |
| Maundy Gregory 25: The war had bumped them up to millionaires, and [...] they were anxious to acquire all the perks that money could buy. | |
| He Died with His Eyes Open 11: He was a chief inspector at thirty-two, only recently bumped up to his rank. | |
| (con. 1969) Suicide Charlie 125: Based on his record, they should have bumped him straight to general. | |
| Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 122: Frank figured that’s why he’d been bumped up to Town Cars — the bosses wanted a connected guy driving. | |
| Joey Piss Pot 161: ‘My father wants you to know, you’re entitled. He’s gonna bump you up’. |
(e) to boost one’s intoxication (by taking more drugs).
| Guardian Guide 20–26 Nov. 28: Waiting for the toilets to come free, so you can swoosh! in there and get bumpin’ with the Persian rugs. |
(f) (UK gang) to extol, to praise.
| Rakim Told Me 164: ‘We put the original 'Raw' out in the fall of ’87 [...] Greg Mack in LA was bumping it hard on KDAY’. | |
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Bump - promote, praise. |
5. (US campus) to curry favour; to beg.
| Reading (PA) Eagle 20 Mar. 7/3: Joe College says ‘cut your bumpin’ to the classmate who wants to be on good terms with the professor. | |
| Confessions of a Caddie 44: Bumping[:] When a caddie demands full pay or, having been paid a fair amount, demands a substantial tip after a loop. | |
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Bump - beg (from). |
6. (US black) to inform.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 10 Jan. 17: ‘Bump’ means to inform. |
7. (US) to dance; thus bumping n., dancing.
| Tales of the City (1984) 13: I feel like a little heavy bumping. Wanna hit the disco? |
8. (US black) to create, to produce.
| Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 7: The trouble funkin’ Harmless imprint are bumpin’ fat reissues like it ain’t no thing. | |
| On the Bro’d 266: ‘[W]e’re bumpin’ to Kanye rap about being awesome’. |
9. of music, a record, to play.
| The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing 27: Tommy would come out there and play the guitar a while and bump on the piano. | |
| Guardian Weekend 27 May 14: It’s a record you can buy and bump. | |
| Running the Books 170: Four in car, matching beards, man, matching pimpin’ hats, music bumpin’. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 2: BUMP IT — play musical loudly: ‘Oh,man. That’s my jam. Bump it!’. |
10. (US black) to leave.
| ‘Alliances’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 5 [TV script] ’You young ’uns be movin’ along.’ ‘Sure, Chris, we’ll bump’. |
11. (US black) of a cell/mobile telephone, to ring or vibrate.
| ‘Ballin’’ 🎵 My celly bumpin’ like a chat line. |
In phrases
1. to thrust one’s abdomen and gyrate one’s hips; also as n.
| Really the Blues 75: She [a dancer] went through her whole routine, bumps and grinds and shakes and breaks. | |
| Candy (1970) 90: The sight of this bald little roly-poly man doing bumps and grinds in his undershirt. | |
| Where the Boys Are 172: Her smile was so broad, her bumps and grinds so exaggerated. | |
| Guardian G2 8 June 6: Happy to bump and grind for the camera. |
2. to have sexual intercourse, esp. cursory or spontaneous; also as n.
| Observer Mag. 18 July 16: Even when it’s bumpin’ and grindin’? | |
| Guardian 10 May 19: If it isn’t the bump and grind of Caribbean Uncovered it’s well-shot groping in Metropolis. |
(US) to have sexual intercourse.
| Homeboy 17: Girlfriends she’d trade her entire [...] record collection to bump bellies with. |
(US) to enage in man-to-man rivalry.
| Back to the Dirt 167: ‘I didn’t come here to sit around a card table bumping dicks’. |
see under fuzz n.2
see bump uglies
see sense 1 above.
to assault.
| Central Sl. 13: bump on ya To fight with someone. ‘You got that woman cuffed like a dog, ’fraid she’ll bump on ya.’. |
(US) to defeat.
| Other Body in Grant's Tomb 11: ‘The municipal government is run by crooks. [...] Do they think one man is going to come in cold and bump it over when the people who live here [...] can't ’. |
see under pussy n.
see sense 2b above.
see under titty n.
(US black/teen) to have sexual intercourse.
| American Dream 23: Mommy: I used to let you get on top of me and bump your uglies. | |
| Campus Sl. Nov. | |
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 bumpin’ uglies Definition: to have sexual intercourse Example: Man, me an that big booty ho over dare are gona bump uglies. | |
| OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 bump nasties, v. to perform an act of sexual intercourse. | |
| Maureen’s Lusty Confessions 🌐 Please, please have a bit of giblet pie, while you fondle my filthy pillows. I have desires to bump uglies with you in my dreams, and I pray that my dreams may one day become a fantastic reality... Do you feel the same way?? | |
| Blacktop Wasteland 55: Lying in her bed after bumping uglies. | |
| Seven Demons 112: ‘[Y]ou guys are bumping uglies so — ’. |
1. see sense 4a above.
2. see sense 4b above.
3. see sense 4d above.
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US) a chance meeting.
| Clockers 507: It was just a bump-in, like a [sic] accident. |
(US) a pickpocket.
| Pal Joey 91: Over there was a bump man I used to see out at the track. |
a police truncheon.
| Kitchener’s Chaps in DSUE (1984). |
In phrases
(Aus.) to meet by accident.
| Coolgardie Miner (WA) 15 Mar. 3/4: I bumped across Mr W. Lowes in the city to-day. He is very busy making final arrangements, - as he sails from England on February 18. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 30 Apr. 6/6: Mr: M'lntyre [...] is spending a short holiday in Sydney. I bumped across him a day or two ago, and had a long chat over swimming matters. | |
| Windsor & Richmond Gaz. (NSW) 16 Nov. 3/1: I might mention I have bumped across several of the old Windsor boys during our route marches. | |
| Advertiser (Adelaide) 25 Nov. 11/5: This afternoon in town I bumped across a colleague who had graduated with me, and who had gone abroad. | |
| Aus. Lang. |
(Aus.) to appear, to arrive.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 30 July 14/2: Late that night Ratto Parker chucked me th’ w’isper that th’ fancy was up at the trap-stronghold, sighin’ f’r ’er ’ero t’ bump along with a five-quid bail ’n’ freedim. |
(US black) to drive deliberately into someone’s car with the intention of stopping and then robbing them.
| Juba to Jive 72: Bump [and grab] v. (1990s) to deliberately drive into someone’s moving car for the purpose of stealing and robbing them. |
to clash (physically or otherwise), to argue, to debate; thus (N.Z. prison) bumpheada skinhead, a person lacking a criminal record.
| And When She Was Bad 23: Deane, I decided, would be a tough cookie for a rube police force to bump heads with. | |
| (con. WWII) Marines! 98: Maybe Patsy wants to bump heads. | |
| (con. WW1) Born to Fight 190: In the role of disciplinarian I crashed heads with an unruly Russian, a drunkard who caused a lot of mischief . | |
| Underground Dict. (1972). | |
| Rivethead (1992) 5: He bumped heads in the thirties with something called the Depression. | |
| Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 153: If two guys got into a rumble [...] Mo had a theory about why they’d bumped heads. | |
| Source Oct. 118: Race and class bumping heads in America’s suburban wasteland. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 34/1: bumphead n. 1 (also bumhead) a skinhead. 2 a person without a criminal record. | |
| Rough Riders 51: I’m not bumping heads with any locals out there. |
see separate entries.
(orig. US black) to argue, to talk excessively.
| Time 26 July 56: You may as well stop bumping your gums [W&F]. | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 48: bump gums – Big talker, mostly empty words. | |
| Homeboy 17: He wasn’t being paid to bump gums with the weather girl. | |
| Dolores Claiborne 119: I’ve run m’gums for pretty near three-quarters of an hour about Selena. | |
| www.Melanet.com 🌐 [as spelt] These buttboys are cowards that’s why their here, if they really were about the busy of conteracting us they wouldn’t be here, just bumping their gums. | |
| ‘Swisha And Dosha’ 🎵 Fuck niggaz bumpin gums, real niggaz be bumpin screw. | |
| Gutted 118: Get blootered drunk [...] starting bumping your gums about how shit the place we live in is. | |
| Dly Teleg. 22 Aug. 🌐 Ask them what law was broken, and all they can do is bump their gums. |
see separate entries.
(Aus.) a general phr. of greeting.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 30 July 14/2: ‘Goo’ day, Mucker!’ ‘’Day, Ponto! ’Ow y’ bumpin’?’ ‘Dead ’ookety, ole cock; feelin’ ’umpty-doo.’. |
a phr. of disappointment, complaint.
| Torchy 147: ‘If you come back here before to-morrow morning [...] I’ll discharge you on the spot.’ Now wouldn’t that bump you? |
In exclamations
(US campus) an excl. of dismissal.
| Sl. U. 49: Bump that! Forget that! | |
| Campus Sl. Nov. |