Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also bum’s-rush) to eject.

1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 31 Mar. [synd. col.] Jim Braddock’s new cafe [...] where every time there is a brawl and the fighters are ‘bum’s-rushed’ – a huge gong gongs.
1944		M. Shulman Feather Merchants 123: I bum-rushed him the hell out of there [W&F].
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 198: A major directorial talent, bum-rushed from the industry.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 283: Then Cleveland here [...] bum-rushed the guy out the door himself .
2018		W. Kramer Hard Stuff 3: Police reinforcements arrived and started bum-rushing everyone off of Belle Isle.

2. to attack, to destroy through violence; usu. as part of a gang or group.

1988		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 2: bum rush – steal or hit someone from behind.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 4: When we bum-rushed white boys, it made me feel like we were beating on all white people on behalf of all blacks.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 bum rush Definition: 1. to overwhelm; to Force ones way over another 2. to beat up. Example: We bum rushed these two dudes waiting for the train.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] ‘Why don’t we just bum rush the car? Yank him out and throw a boot party’‘.

3. to gatecrash, esp. as a crowd, using numbers to gain access, e.g. to a concert or club.

1986		Public Enemy [song title] Yo, Bumrush the Show.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 135: bum rush to stampede, or crash an event (‘the Brooklyn posse bum rushed the party’), or mob a person or object.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 192: We used to go in posses, and bum rush through hallways.
1998		Source Nov. 64: When folks like Russell Simmons, Puffy and Andre Harrell first bumrushed the resort towns, locals weren’t used to hearing hip-hop booming from Land Rovers.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 69: Shit, some niggers bum rush my spot and put a gun to my wig, I’d be jumpy too.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 131: ‘And [we would] bum-rush the neighborhood kids’ birthday parties’.
2015		Indep. on Sunday 25 Oct. 🌐 He bum-rushed Michael Jackson’s 1996 Brits performance.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 38: Bumrush’d at caps and hollow point shell / While hooptie and hoodlum fell.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 195: [The gate] was closed, but not locked. So all we had to do [...] is just open it, and we could kind of go in there and bum-rush him.

4. to pursue.

1994

N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 279: They bum-rushed the white-collar cats in Armani suits.

5. (US campus) to be overlooked, rejected.

1987

Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 1: bumrush – swindle or disappoint: I thought I was going to the concert last night, but my brother gave my ticket to his girlfriend – I was bumrushed.

6. to run off fast; to escape, e.g. from a police raid.

2003

A.N. LeBlanc Random Family 47: If there’s no movement [...] you know something’s up and you bum rush. Bum rush.

7. to rush someone away.

2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 153: I grabbed her arm and bum-rushed her offstage.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 21: ‘They just gon give you the heave-ho amd bum-rush yo ass right back to D Block’.