chum

CEFRB1

/t͡ʃʌm/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A close friend.
02
noun
Extra detail
A roommate, especially in a college or university.

Examples

Calling someone a chum simply shows your overestimation of your place in the social hierarchy.
He spent the afternoon fishing with his childhood chum at the lake.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 2
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Also pronounced

/t͡ʃuːm/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

To share rooms with someone; to live together.
A friend; a pal.

verb

Extra meaning

To lodge (somebody) with another person or people.

More examples

In context

To attract sharks, scientists prepare a special bloody bait concoction known as "chum".
I'll chum you down to the shops.
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.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

My old blank and I often go fishing together on weekends.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

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[…]
1919, Donald Ferguson, chapter 13, in The Chums of Scranton High, or Hugh Morgan's Uphill Fight, Cleveland; New York: The World Syndicate Publishing Co., page 114
...self-supporting chum within the mould normally of corresponding and almost the same but lesser contour, whereby a space is provided between the chum and mould for the introduction of the powdered material and means for expanding the chum'.
1915, The Pottery & Glass Salesman, volume 11, O'Gorman Publishing Company.
He uses a round slab of clay, which he places on top of the chum and commences to thump down around the sides.
1920, The South African Journal of Industries, volume 3, part 2, p. 820
Now that shapes were more uniform this was usually done on a horizontal lathe with the bowl automatically centred on a wooden chum This is a more useful method: it is used in making oval casseroles. The liner is made by spreading a bat and tehn forming it over a felt-covered chum, oval in shape. Chum or chuck: Lathe attachment for holding pots during turning process.
1972, Neal French, Industrial Ceramics—Tableware, Oxford University Press
He looked down upon the girl beside him—a daughter of the desert walking across the face of a dead world with a son of the jungle. He smiled at the thought. He wished that he had had a sister, and that she had been like this girl. What a bully chum she would have been!
1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Through the Valley of the Shadow”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 137

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Origin

noun

1675–85; of uncertain origin, possibly from cham, shortening of chambermate, or from comrade. Less likely from Welsh cymrawd (“fellow”), compare brawd (“brother”).

Deep Dive

noun

verb

More examples

Related

Quick test

My old blank— and I often go fishing together on weekends.

Nearby

Origin

noun

My old blank and I often go fishing together on weekends.