chum
1 Americannoun
-
a close or intimate companion.
boyhood chums.
-
Older Use. a roommate, as at college.
verb (used without object)
-
to associate closely.
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Older Use. to share a room or rooms with another, especially in a dormitory at a college or prep school.
noun
-
cut or ground bait dumped into the water to attract fish to the area where one is fishing.
-
fish refuse or scraps discarded by a cannery.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
-
to dump chum into (a body of water) so as to attract fish.
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to lure (fish) with chum.
They chummed the fish with hamburger.
noun
noun
verb
-
to be or become an intimate friend (of)
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(tr) to accompany
I'll chum you home
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of chum1
First recorded in 1675–85; of uncertain origin
Origin of chum2
An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; of uncertain origin
Explanation
A chum is a friend or a pal. You and your best chums might spend the weekend camping together. The informal word chum is more common in Britain than the US, but you can still talk about your school chums or the new chum you made on a Caribbean cruise. Another kind of chum couldn't be more different from a buddy: it's chopped up fish parts used as bait on a fishing boat. This meaning comes from the Scottish chum, "food," while the first definition was Oxford University slang for a roommate or "chamber fellow."
Vocabulary lists containing chum
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Shout
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Primates
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A Harvard chum found him a job at the then-middling firm of William A. Read & Co.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
When reporting out his story, I contacted Stern, the filmmaker and old prep school chum who made The Preppy Murder.
From Slate • Oct. 13, 2025
Chum - To join someone as a companion, as in "I'll chum you along".
From BBC • Jun. 25, 2025
In 2022, 80% fewer king salmon returned to the Yukon River than the 30-year average and 90% fewer chum salmon returned to western Alaska.
From Science Daily • Dec. 3, 2024
Watch the skittish fish watching me, watching the chum, trying to decide what to do, eat it or run away.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
