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bump.

A light blow or jolting collision.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bʌmp//bʌmp/General-American[bʌm̥p]General-American[bɐm̥p]General-American
  1. A light blow or jolting collision.

    countable
    His car had a tiny bump with a moving bus.
  2. A light blow or jolting collision. The sound of such a collision.

    countable
    He heard a loud bump and saw the front part of his car was broken and the driver of the other car was running to apologise.
  3. A light blow or jolting collision. The sound of such a collision. Any light sound.

    broadly · countable · informal
    He heard bumps in the night.
  4. A light blow or jolting collision. A fist bump.

    countable
    I held my fist up, and he gave me a bump before leaving.
  5. A light blow or jolting collision. A car accident, usually a small one.

    countable
    I had a bump last time I drove into the city.
  6. A light blow or jolting collision. A collision, especially a fall.

    countable
    Did you see the bump he took last night?
  7. A light blow or jolting collision. A dose of a drug, such as ketamine or cocaine, snorted; a small dose of a snorted drug.

    countable · figuratively · slang · uncountable
  8. A light blow or jolting collision. A conflict.

    countable · informal
  9. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line.

    countable · uncountable
    Be careful of that bump in the road.
    The boundary between Estonia and Russia has a bump north of that town.
  10. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A swelling on the skin caused by illness or injury.

    countable · uncountable
  11. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A bouffant hairstyle; the puffy upper part of such a hairstyle.

    countable
    She looks great with that bump Kelly gave her at the salon.
  12. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. The swollen abdomen of a pregnant woman.

    countable
  13. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. One of the protuberances on the cranium which, in phrenology, are associated with distinct faculties or affections of the mind.

    countable · obsolete
    the bump of veneration; the bump of acquisitiveness
  14. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. One of the protuberances on the cranium which, in phrenology, are associated with distinct faculties or affections of the mind. The faculty itself.

    countable · dated · metonymically · obsolete · uncountable
  15. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A small increase in an amount.

    countable · figuratively
    His pay got a bump last month.
  16. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A small increase in an amount. A small increase in excitement or interest.

    countable · figuratively
    The addition of the fight scenes gave the story a little bump near the end, but overall, it bored me.
  17. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A small increase in an amount. A temporary, usually small, increase in a quantity, such as is shown in a graph.

    countable · figuratively
    US presidential nominees get a post-convention bump in survey ratings.
  18. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A small increase in an amount. A ripoff or bad deal; an unjustly high price.

    London · countable · figuratively · slang · uncountable
    I paid a hundred pounds for that, but it was a proper bump, mate.
  19. A protuberance on a flat surface or a straight line. A minor problem or difficulty.

    colloquial · countable · figuratively
  20. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. The point, in a race in which boats are spaced apart at the start, at which a boat begins to overtake the boat ahead.

    countable · uncountable
  21. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. The act of using one's forearm to strike the ball in a volleyball match.

    countable · uncountable
  22. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. In skipping, a single jump over two consecutive turns of the rope.

    countable · uncountable
  23. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. A sudden movement of underground strata, preceded by a characteristic sound.

    countable · uncountable
  24. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. 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.

    Internet · countable
  25. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. In the game of khanhoo, the act of claiming a newly discarded card when it is not one's turn, permitted when one can use the card to form a meld other than a sequence.

    countable · uncountable
  26. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. The sound and other sensations of a rhythm, especially in music with a strong, danceable beat, especially played over speakers at loud volume with strong bass frequency response.

    US · slang · uncountable
    The fetus can hear the bump of the mother's heartbeat.
    The rhythmic bump in that song made me want to dance.
  27. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. The sound and other sensations of a rhythm, especially in music with a strong, danceable beat, especially played over speakers at loud volume with strong bass frequency response. A good song, especially a danceable one.

    US · countable · slang
    His latest song is such a bump, I can't stop listening to it on repeat.
  28. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. The sound and other sensations of a rhythm, especially in music with a strong, danceable beat, especially played over speakers at loud volume with strong bass frequency response. A disco dance in which partners rhythmically bump their hips together.

    US · slang · uncountable
    I saw him doing The Bump with her.
  29. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. A reassignment of jobs within an organization (for example, when an existing employee leaves) on the basis of seniority.

    countable
  30. Senses related to a movement, especially a rhythmic or sudden one. A demotion or promotion.

    countable
    He got a bump up into senior management.
    They all had to either accept a bump down to a lesser role or get fired.
  31. A coarse cotton fabric.

    uncountable
  32. A training match for a fighting dog.

    countable · uncountable
  33. The jaw of either of the middle pockets.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  34. A short, self-promotional spot on a radio or television station.

    US · countable
  35. An undercover contact or staged encounter used to elicit information, prompt a reaction, or arrange a follow-up meeting with a suspect or person of interest.

    US · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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

verb/bʌmp//bʌmp/General-American[bʌm̥p]General-American[bɐm̥p]General-American
  1. To knock against or run into with a jolt.

    Their car got bumped while they were turning at the junction.
  2. To move up or down by a step; displace.

    I bumped the font size up to make my document easier to read.
  3. 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.

    Internet
  4. To suddenly boil, causing movement of the vessel and loss of liquid.

    physical
  5. To move (a booked passenger) to a later flight because of earlier delays or cancellations.

    transitive
  6. To move the time of (a scheduled event).

    transitive
  7. To pick (a lock) with a repeated striking motion that dislodges the pins.

    transitive
  8. To increase (a version number).

    transitive
  9. To make a loud, heavy, or hollow noise; to boom.

    archaic · intransitive
  10. To spread out material so as to fill any desired number of pages.

    dated
  11. To assassinate; to bump off.

    slang · transitive
  12. To displace (another employee in an organization) on the basis of seniority.

    transitive
  13. To anger, irritate.

    colloquial · dated
  14. In the game of khanhoo, to claim a newly discarded card when it is not one's turn, permitted when one can use the card to form a meld other than a sequence.

  15. To play music through a speaker, often loudly and in public.

    slang
  16. To encounter and stop, to catch.

    US · slang
  17. To move while bumping up and down, as a cart or car does on rough ground.

    intransitive
    The car bumped over the dirt road.
  18. To snort a small dose of cocaine or another drug; to do a bump of a drug.

    slang · transitive
    She bumped some of that coke off her house key.
Where this word comes from

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

intj/bʌmp//bʌmp/General-American[bʌm̥p]General-American[bɐm̥p]General-American
  1. 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.

    Internet
Where this word comes from

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

noun/bʌmp//bʌmp/General-American[bʌm̥p]General-American[bɐm̥p]General-American
  1. The breeding call made by the bittern; a boom.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Early Modern English; onomatopoeic.

verb/bʌmp//bʌmp/General-American[bʌm̥p]General-American[bɐm̥p]General-American
  1. Of a bittern, to make its characteristic breeding call.

Where this word comes from

From Early Modern English; onomatopoeic.

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Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.