bump

Etymology

From Early Modern English bump (“a shock, blow from a collision", also "to make a heavy, hollow sound, boom”), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Danish bump (“a thump”), Danish bumpe (“to thump”), Old Danish bumpe (“to strike with a clenched fist”). Apparently related to Middle English bumben, bummen (“to make a hollow noise”), Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”), German bummen (“to hum, buzz”), Icelandic bumba (“drum”), probably of imitative origin. More at bum, bumble. Compare also bomb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʌmp/
• Rhymes: -ʌmp

Noun

bump (plural bumps)

1. A light blow or jolting collision.
2. The sound of such a collision.
3. A protuberance on a level surface.
4. A swelling on the skin caused by illness or injury.
   • Shakespeare

     It had upon its brow / A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone.

5. One of the protuberances on the cranium which, in phrenology, are associated with distinct faculties or affections of the mind.

   the bump of veneration; the bump of acquisitiveness

6. (rowing) The point, in a race in which boats are spaced apart at the start, at which a boat begins to overtake the boat ahead.
7. The swollen abdomen of a pregnant woman.
8. (Internet) A post in an Internet forum thread made in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
9. A temporary increase in a quantity, as shown in a graph.

   US presidential nominees get a post-convention bump in survey ratings.

10. (slang) A dose of a drug such as ketamine or cocaine, when snorted recreationally.
11. The noise made by the bittern; a boom.
12. A coarse cotton fabric.
13. A training match for a fighting dog.
14. (snooker, slang) The jaw of either of the middle pockets.

Verb

bump (third-person singular simple present bumps, present participle bumping, simple past and past participle bumped)

1. To knock against or run into with a jolt.
2. To move up or down by a step.

   I bumped the font size up to make my document easier to read.

3. (Internet) To post in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
   • 2015, Barbara Horrell; Christine Stephens; Mary Breheny, “Online Research with Informal Caregivers: Opportunities and Challenges”, in Qualitative Research in Psychology, volume 12, number 3, DOI:10.1080/14780887.2015.1040318, page 264:

     As in [the online forum] carersvoicesnz, certain contributors were more visible, taking the initiative to "bump" the thread to bring it back into view if it went quiet.

4. (chemistry, of a superheated liquid) To suddenly boil, causing movement of the vessel and loss of liquid.
   • 1916, Albert Prescott Mathews, Physiological chemistry

     Heat until the liquid bumps, then reduce the heat and continue the boiling for 1½ hours.

5. (transitive) To move (a booked passenger) to a later flight because of earlier delays or cancellations.
   • 2005, Lois Jones, EasyJet: the story of Britain's biggest low-cost airline (page 192)

     Easyjet said the compensation package for passengers bumped off flights was 'probably the most flawed piece of European legislation in recent years'...

6. (transitive) To move the time of a scheduled event.
   • 2010, Nancy Conner, Matthew MacDonald, Office 2010: The Missing Manual, p. 332:

     A colleague emails with news that her 4:30 meeting got bumped to 3:30.

7. (archaic) To make a loud, heavy, or hollow noise; to boom.
   • Dryden

     as a bittern bumps within a reed

Interjection

bump

1. (Internet) Posted in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.

Numeral

bump

1. Soft mutation of pump (“five”).

Mutation