bummer
/ˈbʌ.mɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.20 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An idle, worthless fellow, without any visible means of support; a dissipated sponger.
American usage; Dated; Slang
noun
A lamb (typically the smallest of a multiple birth) which has been abandoned by its mother or orphaned, and as a consequence is raised in part or in whole by humans.
noun
A psychedelic crisis; hallucinogenic drug use producing undesirable dysphoric psychological effects, most often fear, paranoia, and especially horrifying hallucinations; a bad trip.
Dated; Slang
adj
comparative form of bum: more bum
Example Sentences
- "“If I get away I sha’n’t be here,” I says, “to prove these rapscallions ain’t your uncles, and I couldn’t do it if I was here. I could swear they was beats and bummers, that’s all, though that’s worth something."
- "That's a total bummer."
- "Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer / Well what a bummer / I can think of a lot worse places to be"
- "I came to realise that life on crutches is a bummer. It's just fair dinkum like a whole new lifestyle[.]"
- "This young man never had a bummer in some 33 LSD trips. Every one of the them was a delight—everything under control. He needed only to snap his fingers, and down he came, anytime. But on Voyage 34, he finally met himself coming down an up staircase, and the encounter was crushing."
- "You know, the kind of guy who would, if he wasn't gay, probably be shouting ‘Oi, gay boy!’ or ‘You bummer!’ or even ‘Oi, paki!’ or what have you. They're not enlightened."
Etymology
Usage
- Obsolete
- American usage
- Dated
- Slang
- Colloquial
- British usage
- Derogatory
- Offensive