chum

¹

[chuhm]

noun

1. a close or intimate companion.

   boyhood chums.

2. Older Use.,  a roommate, as at college.

verb (used without object)

chummed, chumming 

1. to associate closely.

2. Older Use.,  to share a room or rooms with another, especially in a dormitory at a college or prep school.

chum

²

[chuhm]

noun

1. cut or ground bait dumped into the water to attract fish to the area where one is fishing.

2. fish refuse or scraps discarded by a cannery.

verb (used without object)

chummed, chumming 

1. to fish by attracting fish by dumping cut or ground bait into the water.

verb (used with object)

chummed, chumming 

1. to dump chum into (a body of water) so as to attract fish.

2. to lure (fish) with chum.

   They chummed the fish with hamburger.

chum

³

[chuhm]

noun

1. chum salmon.

chum

¹

/ tʃʌm /

noun

1. informal,  a close friend

verb

1. to be or become an intimate friend (of)

2. (tr) to accompany

   I'll chum you home

chum

²

/ tʃʌm /

noun

1. angling chopped fish, meal, etc, used as groundbait

chum

³

/ tʃʊm /

noun

1. a Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus keta

Word History and Origins

Origin of chum¹

First recorded in 1675–85; of uncertain origin

Origin of chum²

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; of uncertain origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of chum¹

C17 (meaning: a person sharing rooms with another): probably shortened from chamber fellow, originally student slang (Oxford); compare _crony

Origin of chum²

C19: origin uncertain

Origin of chum³

from Chinook Jargon tsum spots, marks, from Chinook

Example Sentences

The waters have been chummed and the sharks are beginning to circle.

From Salon

In a surreal moment, the two men were laughing and chumming it up like old friends.

From Salon

Matlin and Stern, who is also a Deaf actor, have been friends for decades, and their interviews are mostly conducted sitting together on a couch, the conversations exuding the cozy intimacy of old chums chatting.

From Los Angeles Times

Chum - To join someone as a companion, as in "I'll chum you along".

From BBC

In the five decades following Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking masterpiece, most sharksploitation has been chopped up and diluted into chum, tossed into the water by careless, filmmaking fishermen.

From Salon

Related Words

• buddy 
• comrade 
• crony 
• playmate