bump

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bʌmp/^[1]

Etymology

It is of imitative origin, echoing a heavy, dull blow,^[2][3][4] perhaps of Scandinavian origin: compare Middle Danish bumpe, to strike with the fist.^[3][5][4] It has long been associated with obsolete bum, to make a booming noise or to strike.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bulge or swell out: the 1560s in Etymonline, the 16th century in Hoad;^[5][3] Merriam-Webster gives 1581.^[6] A protuberance caused by a blow is from the 1590s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

To strike heavily, or a dull-sounding blow, is from the 1610s, both verb and noun in Cotgrave's Dictionary (1611).^[2][5][7] Etymonline suggests that if the original sense was hitting, the swelling sense came from the result of being hit.^[5] Bump into, to meet by chance, is from 1886, and bump off, to kill, underworld slang by 1908.^[5] An air pocket was a bump to aviators from 1914,^[7] and the dancer's bump and grind is from 1940.^[5] Bumper, a brimming glass, is from 1676, later anything unusually large (a bumper crop, 1759), and a car's protective bar from 1926.^[2][3] Bumpy is from 1865.^[2]

Timeline

• 1560s – to bulge.^[5]
• 1611 – a blow; to strike.^[2]
• 1676 – bumper, a full glass.^[2]
• 1886 – bump into.^[5]
• 1908 – bump off.^[5]
• 1926 – a car bumper.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To knock or collide with something, often by accident.
2. To travel with jerks and jolts.
3. To move someone from a place or position, as from a flight or a list.
4. bump into: to meet by chance.

Noun

1. A blow, collision or jolt, or its sound.
2. A raised place or swelling; a lump.

Word family

• bumpingly
• bumpy
• bumpoff
• bumper
• speed bump

Related words

• thump

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press