Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a full glass, esp. when raised in a toast; also as v., to make a toast; thus bumpering n., drinking, bumper, to drink ( a toast).

1683		W. Kennett (trans.) Erasmus Witt against Wisdom (1509) 116: When they have supp'd, then begins the game of Drinking; the Bottles are marshall'd, the Glasses ranked, and round go the Healths, and Bumpers, till they are carried up to Bed.
1684		J. Lacy Sir Hercules Buffoon IV ii: ald.: Bumper! prethee what’s a Bumper? sq.: For shame Uncle, not know what a Bumper is! Bumper is the Parnassus word for a Beer Glass top full.
1699		‘A Song on Bartholomew Fair’ in Playford Pills to Purge Melancholy I 255: Come sit down then brisk Lads all, / A Bumper to the King.
1700		Farquhar Constant Couple V i: I have toasted your Ladyship fifteen bumpers successively.
1710		C. Shadwell Fair Quaker of Deal II iii: Come, her Majesties Health in a Bumper, and may she live for ever.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy I 21: And lately had Poison’d himself, / With bumpers of claret.
1724		A. Ramsay Tea-table Misc. (1733) I 48: Come, fill me a bumper, my jolly brave boys.
1734		W. Dunkin ‘The Parson’s Revels’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 211: [He] reconciles them with a brace / Of bumpers.
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 59: Come, give me a Glass of Claret. (Footman fills him a Bumper.).
1741		Richardson Memoirs of the Life of Lady H 15: The Cook filled a bumper, and drank to her: Here, Pamela, says she, a good Health to you.
1749		Fielding Tom Jones (1959) 280: Taking a bumper in one hand, and holding me by the other, ‘Here, my boy, [...] here’s wishing you joy.’.
1758		A. Murphy Upholsterer I i: I’ll drink your Mistress’s Health in a Bumper.
1760		O. Goldsmith ‘A Reverie at the Boar’s-head-tavern, Eastcheap’ in Coll. Works (1966) III 100: She would pledge me a bumper.
1772		G. Stevens ‘To Drink’ in Songs Comic and Satyrical 66: When Prudence declaims how time passes, / Cou’d we tempt Mr. Chronos to stay, / While we’re bump’ring a round of our lasses, / We could wait upon all he could say. [Ibid.] 74: The politic patter, / Which both parties chatter, / From bumpering freely shan’t shake us.
1775		Sheridan Rivals (1776) II i: Adieu, Jack, we must meet at night when you shall give me a dozen bumpers to little Lydia.
a.1781		C. Dibdin ‘The Joys of the Country’ in Bullfinch 11: Wid good toasts and pint bumpers we bodder the head.
1781		Hicky’s Bengal Gaz. 28 Apr.-5 May n.p.: I am ready to [...] toss off a bumper to Peace.
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: bumper, a full glass, in all likelihood from its convexity or bump at the top; some derive it from a full glass formerly drank to the health of the pope, a la bon pere.
1792		‘When Princes and Prelates’ in Burns Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965) 54: But truce with commotions and new-fangled notions, / A bumper I trust you’ll allow.
c.1793		‘The Irish man’s Ramble’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 500: I set with the Toppers and Drunk of full bumpers.
1800		‘British Fair’ in Jovial Songster 35: The bumpers fill’d, the toast shall be, / ‘British Fair, with three times three’.
1810		J.B. Burges Riches IV iii: There they’re all sitting, with your hopeful clerks, / Eating and drinking, gaily quaffing bumpers / To their kind patron’s health.
1817		W. Scott Rob Roy (1883) 123: Gulping down the rest of his dissatisfaction in a huge bumper of claret.
1826		Portfolio (London) 19 Oct. 3/2: A Lieutenant [...] insisted upon bumpering Smollett’s health three times over.
1827		T. Morton A School For Grown Children III iii: He challenged me to drink bumpers.
1830		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) 3 July 3/3: Give the queer little fellow a bumper.
1833		‘’Tis A Bit Of A Thing’ in Lummy Chaunter 58: Now you see, that I sing, / With a bumper to woman! to season our wine.
1837		True Colonist (Hobart, Tas.) 21 Apr. 585/3: ‘We played that well, did’nt we? [...] And I think [...] we ought to have a bumper on the strength of it’.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 2 Apr. n.p.: Gob could only come to time by virtue of a bumper of brandy.
1843		Bellew Memoirs of a Griffin II 97: ‘Pass the bottle [...] fill up a bumper; come, a brimmer; no daylight, Sir’.
1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd series) 58: On the strength of it they drank bumpers to the success of the projected enterprise.
1853		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 77: Fill up a bumper to the health of our esteemed host Smalls.
1863		G.A. Sala Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous 171: I should like, master, to drink your health in a bumper of right Burgundy.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 268: Two dozen of wine were uncorked, and the Major’s health, extension of longevity, and success, drank in bumpers with vociferous cheering.
1874		‘Old Calabar’ Won in a Canter I 28: [T]he Colonel swallowed a bumper of port at a gulp.
1880		G.R. Sims ‘A Silver Wedding’ Ballads of Babylon 56: Gout or no gout, here’s a bumper to Harold and Elspeth Grey!
1885		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 26 Dec. 6/2: ‘Here! you’ve got to make it a bumper this time or I’ll know why not’ .
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 17/2: ‘It gives,’ said a gallant Gaul, ‘very much plaisir to propose bon voyage to the Australian Army. We will drink this […] in bumpers – and no boot-heels.’.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 25 Nov. 7/6: The wind-up of the evening had to be celebrated in more creaming bumpers.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 52: Lady Cranleigh’s health [...] and her daughter Madge. Bumpers.
1901		D. Cotsford Society Snapshots 187: Now for a bumper with which to pledge our vows.
1902		D. St John Memoirs of Madge Buford 95: [They] gave me and themselves a reviving numper of wine.
1902		H. Morant ‘Butchered to Make a Dutchman’s Holiday’ in Cutlack Breaker Morant (1962) 176: Let’s toss a bumper down our throat / Before we pass to Heaven, / And toast: ‘the trim-set petticoat / We leave behind in Devon’.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 284: Any one who welshed on the Bumpers was likely to have his Name stricken out of the Social Register.
1934		H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1963) 28: The wine is being brought out. There will be bumpers downed.
1952		B. MacMahon Children of the Rainbow 106: She poured him out a good bumper of whiskey.
1999		Indep. on Sun. 11 July 26: Raise a bumper to our glorious sovereign.
2020		Twitter 8 Aug. 🌐 [He] breaks open a double magnum of #Tignanello, raises a bumper to Dionysus and drains it in a single draft.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1725

J. Sheppard Sheppard in Egypt 17: Mrs. Boyle, also reproach’d me, for disturbing her at her Stand at the Bumper-Tavern Door.

3. anything unusually large or plentiful.

1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 24 Oct. 309/3: [of a benefit] Several first-rate Boxers have promised him their assistance [...] and we hope the poor fellow will have a bumper.
1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West II 18: [T]here was a pretty strong muster of the fancy [...] On account of the expectation that a match would be made or announced for the championship, it was a bumper.
1838		‘Boz’ Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi 158: His two benefits were bumpers, and the theatre closed on the 12th of September, after a most profitable campaign.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 25 Mar. 2/2: The benefit must be a bumper — if there is taste in Sydney.
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 31 Jan. 2/6: Mrs Charles Young’s benefit [...] was a bumper, and never was compliment more deservedly paid.
1859		G.A. Sala Gaslight and Daylight 264: A capital house though, to-night: a bumper, indeed. Such a bumper [...] that they have been obliged to place benches on the stage.
1889		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 16 Mar. 75/1: [of a theatrical benefit] Acton Phillips had as big a bumper at his his Hammersmith Theatre of Varieties [...] as his large circle of friends and admirers could have wished.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 30 Aug. 6/2: Gus Foster [...] we trust, has had the bumper [i.e. success] he deserves.

4. (W.I.) a drunkard, a habitual drinker, esp. of rum.

1943

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

5. (US) a large bottle of beer.

1993		G.P. Pelecanos Nick’s Trip 18: [We] split a bumper of beer and huffed half a pack of Marlboros.
2012		M. Wilkerson ‘A Clean White Sun’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] They’re guzzling malt liquor out of bumpers wrapped in brown paper bags.