chum

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A friend

   A friend; a pal.

   • That made Thad think of Mark Twain, and he wondered whether the illustrious Tom Sawyer and his chum, Huckleberry Finn, had ever arranged a more fetching reception committee than this one[…]
2. 2

   A roommate, especially in a college or university.

   • Field had a 'chum,' or room-mate, whose visage was suggestive to the 'Sophs;' it invited experiment; it held out opportunity for their peculiar deviltry.
3. 3

   To share rooms with someone

   To share rooms with someone; to live together.

   • Henry Wotton and John Donne began to be friends when, as boys, they chummed together at Oxford, where Donne had gone at the age of twelve years.
   • A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.
4. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To lodge (somebody) with another person or people.

   2. 5

      To make friends

      To make friends; to socialize.

      • "You'll make yourself disliked on board!" "By von Heumann merely." "But is that wise when he's the man we've got to diddle?" "The wisest thing I ever did. To have chummed up with him would have been fatal -- the common dodge."
   3. 6

      To accompany.

      • I'll chum you down to the shops.
   4. 7

      A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as…

      A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as groundbait to attract predator fish, such as sharks.

      • Near-synonym: shark bait
   5. 8

      To cast chum into the water to attract fish.

      • He began to chum for sharks, using whale oil and chopped whale meat.
      • Small live baitfish are effective, and they will take bits of fresh cut fish when chummed strongly.
   6. 9

      A coarse mould for holding the clay while being worked on a whirler, lathe or manually.

      • He uses a round slab of clay, which he places on top of the chum and commences to thump down around the sides.
      • 1921, A Survey and Analysis of the Pottery Industry, bulletin no. 67, trade and industrial series no. 20, Washington: Federal Board for Vocational Training. Chum,—A mold used on the whirler to hold ware for scraping and finishing.
   7. 10

      Synonym of chum salmon.

   8. 11

      A temporary dwelling used by the nomadic Uralic reindeer herders of northwestern Siberia.

   9. 12

      A surname.

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