Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bum factory

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.69 in modern English

Syllables
bum -fac-to-ry
IPA
22
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An establishment that sells alcoholic drinks, such as a saloon or liquor store.

American usage; Dated; Informal

noun

A cheap place for lodging, such as a hostel or a charitable mission house; flophouse.

American usage; Dated; Informal

Etymology

From bum (“tramp, vagrant”) + factory, the idea being that the existence of such establishments supposedly encourages people to become vagrants.

Usage

Inflected Forms

bum factories (plural)

Questions

What does bum factory mean?
An establishment that sells alcoholic drinks, such as a saloon or liquor store.
Where does bum factory come from?
From bum (“tramp, vagrant”) + factory, the idea being that the existence of such establishments supposedly encourages people to become vagrants.

How to pronounce bum factory

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “bum factory”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “bum factory”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “bum factory” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.