chums

Noun (1)

chum (plural chums)

1. (dated) A friend; a pal.
   • He looked down upon the girl beside him—a daughter of the desert walking across the face of a dead world with a son of the jungle. He smiled at the thought. He wished that he had had a sister, and that she had been like this girl. What a bully chum she would have been!1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Through the Valley of the Shadow”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 137

   Synonyms:

   babber, billy, bredrin, bruv, bud, buddo, buddy, butty, chaver, china

2. (dated) A roommate, especially in a college or university.
   • Field had a 'chum,' or room-mate, whose visage was suggestive to the 'Sophs;' it invited experiment; it held out opportunity for their peculiar deviltry.1856 February, Paul Siogvolk, “Schediasms: My College Friend, Bosworth Field”, in The Knickerbocker: Or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume 47, number 2, page 161

Noun (2)

chum (uncountable)

1. (Canada, US) A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as groundbait to attract predator fish, such as sharks.
   • Near-synonym: shark bait

   Synonyms:

   berley, burley, shark bait

Noun (3)

chum (plural chums)

1. (pottery) A coarse mould for holding the clay while being worked on a whirler, lathe or manually.
   • ...self-supporting chum within the mould normally of corresponding and almost the same but lesser contour, whereby a space is provided between the chum and mould for the introduction of the powdered material and means for expanding the chum'.1915, The Pottery & Glass Salesman, volume 11, O'Gorman Publishing Company.

Noun (4)

chum (plural chums)

1. Synonym of chum salmon.

   Synonyms:

   chum salmon

Noun (5)

chum (plural chums)

1. A temporary dwelling used by the nomadic Uralic reindeer herders of northwestern Siberia.

See all 12 meanings of chum