6 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bum \Bum\, n. [Contr. fr bottom in this sense.]
The buttock. [Low] --Shak.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bum \Bum\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Bummed}; p. pr & vb.n.
{Bumming} (?).] [See {Boom}, v. i., to roar.]
To make murmuring or humming sound. --Jamieson.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bum \Bum\, n.
A humming noise. --Halliwell.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
bum
adj : (informal) of very poor quality [syn: {cheap}, {cheesy}, {chintzy},
{crummy}, {punk}, {sleazy}, {tinny}]
n 1: a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible;
"only a rotter would do that"; "kill the rat"; "throw
the bum out"; "you cowardly little pukes!" [syn: {rotter},
{rat}, {skunk}, {stinker}, {puke}, {crumb}, {lowlife},
{scum bag}, {so-and-so}]
2: a disreputable wanderer [syn: {tramp}, {hobo}]
3: person who does no work [syn: {idler}, {loafer}, {do-nothing},
{layabout}]
4: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on [syn: {buttocks},
{arse}, {butt}, {backside}, {buns}, {can}, {fundament}, {hindquarters},
{hind end}, {keister}, {posterior}, {prat}, {rear}, {rear
end}, {rump}, {stern}, {seat}, {tail}, {tail end}, {tooshie},
{tush}, {bottom}, {behind}, {derriere}, {fanny}, {ass}]
v : ask for and get free be a parasite [syn: {mooch}, {cadge},
{grub}, {sponge}]
From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]:
bum 1. vt To make highly efficient, either in time or space,
often at the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more
instructions out of that code." "I spent half the night bumming the
interrupt code." In 1996, this term and the practice it describes are
semi-obsolete. In {elder days}, John McCarthy (inventor of {LISP}) used
to compare some efficiency-obsessed hackers among his students to "ski
bums"; thus optimization became "program bumming", and eventually just
"bumming". 2. To squeeze out excess; to remove something in order to
improve whatever it was removed from (without changing function; this
distinguishes the process from a {featurectomy}). 3. n. A small change
to an algorithm, program, or hardware device to make it more efficient.
"This hardware bum makes the jump instruction faster." Usage: now
uncommon, largely superseded by v. {tune} (and n. {tweak}, {hack}),
though none of these exactly capture sense 2. All these uses are rare in
Commonwealth hackish, because in the parent dialects of English the noun
`bum' is a rude synonym for `buttocks' and the verb `bum' for buggery.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]:
bum
1. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at
the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more
instructions out of that code." "I spent half the night
bumming the interrupt code." In {elder days}, {John McCarthy}
(inventor of {Lisp}) used to compare some efficiency-obsessed
hackers among his students to "ski bums"; thus optimisation
became "program bumming", and eventually just "bumming".
2. To squeeze out excess; to remove something in order to
improve whatever it was removed from (without changing
function; this distinguishes the process from a
{featurectomy}).
3. A small change to an algorithm, program, or hardware
device to make it more efficient. "This hardware bum makes
the jump instruction faster."
Usage: now uncommon, largely superseded by v. {tune} (and
{tweak}, {hack}), though none of these exactly capture sense
2. All these uses are rare in Commonwealth hackish, because
in the parent dialects of English bum" is a rude synonym for
"buttocks".
[{Jargon File}]
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