chum1

[chuhm] /tʃʌm/
noun
1.
a close or intimate companion:
boyhood chums.
2.
a roommate, as at college.
verb (used without object), chummed, chumming.
3.
to associate closely.
4.
to share a room or rooms with another, especially in a dormitory at a college or prep school.
Origin
1675-85; of uncertain origin

chum2

[chuhm] /tʃʌm/
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.
3.
to fish by attracting fish by dumping cut or ground bait into the water.
verb (used with object), chummed, chumming.
4.
to dump chum into (a body of water) so as to attract fish.
5.
to lure (fish) with chum:
They chummed the fish with hamburger.
Origin
1855-60, Americanism; of uncertain origin

chum3

[chuhm] /tʃʌm/
noun
1.
chum salmon.
Examples from the web for chum
  • Resident orcas, researchers found, eat chinook and chum salmon.
  • Throw out the names of other firms that would be overjoyed to hire your chum.
  • They hold their wings out, drop their feet into the water, and pick up pieces of the chum we've put out.
  • They caught blue fish, ate their sandwiches and ran a chum slick a mile long without raising a mako.
  • But you'll also catch guys fishing in the grey-green lake, using this morning's sausages for chum.
  • It perches over a small pool, then lunges with both paws and comes up with a plump three-foot chum salmon.
  • It's common for them to swim up to the stern of the boat, stick their heads out of the water, and look at the chum bag.
  • If a fisherman uses multiple hooks and lines, he is not allowed to use natural bait, such as chum.
  • Small streams are used by chum in the lower reaches, coho next, and cutthroat in the headwaters.
  • chum are thought to be fairly resistant to whirling disease, but it is unclear.
British Dictionary definitions for chum

chum1

/tʃʌm/
noun
1.
(informal) a close friend
verb chums, chumming, chummed
2.
(intransitive) usually foll by up with. to be or become an intimate friend (of)
3.
(transitive) (Scot) to accompany: I'll chum you home
Word Origin
C17 (meaning: a person sharing rooms with another): probably shortened from chamber fellow, originally student slang (Oxford); compare crony

chum2

/tʃʌm/
noun
1.
(angling, mainly US & Canadian) chopped fish, meal, etc, used as groundbait
Word Origin
C19: origin uncertain

chum3

/tʃʊm/
noun
1.
a Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus keta
Word Origin
from Chinook Jargon tsum spots, marks, from Chinook
Word Origin and History for chum
n.

"friend," 1680s, originally university slang for "roommate," from alternative spelling of cham, short for chamber(mate); typical of the late-17c. fondness for clipped words. Among derived forms used 19c. were chumship; chummery "shared bachelor quarters," chummage "system of quartering more than one to a room."

"fish bait," 1857, perhaps from Scottish chum "food."

Slang definitions & phrases for chum

chum 2

noun

: Augie, start dumping the chum over

verb

To throw ground-up bait into the water to attract fish: to chum for blues

[1850s+; origin unknown]


chum 1

noun
  1. A very close friend; buddy, pal (1680s+ Students)
  2. Man; fellow; guy •Used in direct address esp to strangers, usually with mildly hostile overtones: Keep guessing, chum (1940s+)
verb

(also chum around): He chums with Georgie Ogle (1880s+)

[origin uncertain, but earlier uses strongly suggest chamber-mate or chamber-fellow as the etymon]