chum.
A friend; a pal.
Meaning & usage
A friend; a pal.
A roommate, especially in a college or university.
Where this word comes from
1675–85; of uncertain origin, possibly from cham, shortening of chambermate, or from comrade. Less likely from Welsh cymrawd (“fellow”), compare brawd (“brother”).
To share rooms with someone; to live together.
To lodge (somebody) with another person or people.
To make friends; to socialize.
To accompany.
I'll chum you down to the shops.
Where this word comes from
1675–85; of uncertain origin, possibly from cham, shortening of chambermate, or from comrade. Less likely from Welsh cymrawd (“fellow”), compare brawd (“brother”).
A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as groundbait to attract predator fish, such as sharks.
Where this word comes from
Originally American English, from the 1850s. Perhaps from Powhatan.
To cast chum into the water to attract fish.
Where this word comes from
Originally American English, from the 1850s. Perhaps from Powhatan.
A coarse mould for holding the clay while being worked on a whirler, lathe or manually.
Synonym of chum salmon.
Where this word comes from
From Chinook Jargon tzum (“spotted, marked”), from Chinook.
A temporary dwelling used by the nomadic Uralic reindeer herders of northwestern Siberia.
Where this word comes from
From Russian чум (čum), from Komi-Zyrian чум (ćum) and/or Udmurt чум (ćum, “tent, shelter”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.