bumper

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From bump +‎ -er.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈbʌmpə(ɹ)/
  • Rhymes: -ʌmpə(ɹ)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (AU):(file)

Noun[edit]

bumper (plural bumpers)

  1. Someone or something that bumps.
  2. (obsolete) A drinking vessel filled to the brim.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
      [T]hey now shook hands heartily, and drank bumpers of strong beer to healths which we think proper to bury in oblivion.
    • 1756 February 3 (first performance), Samuel Foote, The Englishman Return’d from Paris, Being the Sequel to The Englishman in Paris. A Farce […], London: […] Paul Vaillant, […], published 1756, →OCLC, Act I, page 27:
      Pork ſucceeds to Beef, Pies to Puddings: The Cloth is remov'd, Madam, drench'd vvith a Bumper, drops a Courtſey, and departs; […]
    • 1818, John Keats, Written in the cottage where Burns was born:
      Yet can I gulp a bumper to thy name,— / O smile among the shades, for this is fame!
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 8, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
      Mr. Horrocks served myself and my pupils with three little glasses of wine, and a bumper was poured out for my lady.
    • 1859, Charles Dickens, chapter XI, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
      Sydney Carton drank the punch at a great rate; drank it by bumpers, looking at his friend.
    • 1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Pirates of Penzance  […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC:
      Pour, oh, pour the pirate sherry; / Fill, O fill the pirate glass; / And, to make us more than merry, / Let the pirate bumper pass.
  3. (colloquial, now chiefly attributive) Anything large or successful.
  4. (automotive) Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision; fender.
  5. Any mechanical device used to absorb an impact, soften a collision, or protect against impact.
    The company sells screw-on rubber bumpers and feet.
  6. (cricket) A bouncer.
  7. (billiards) A side wall of a pool table.
  8. A cylindrical object used (as a substitute for birds) to train dogs to retrieve.
  9. (broadcasting) A short ditty or jingle used to separate a show from the advertisements.
  10. (slang, dated) A covered house at a theatre, etc., in honour of some favourite performer.
  11. (slang, Caribbean, Jamaica) A woman's posterior, particularly one that is considered full and desirable.
  12. (music) An extra musician (not notated in the score) who assists the principal French horn by playing less-exposed passages, so that the principal can save their 'lip' for difficult solos. Also applied to other sections of the orchestra.
  13. (pinball) An object on a playfield that applies force to the pinball when hit, often giving a minor increase in score.
  14. (Australia, slang) A cigarette butt.
  15. (horse racing) In National Hunt racing, a flat race for horses that have not yet competed either in flat racing or over obstacles.
  16. (video games) A shoulder button on a gamepad.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Descendants of bumper in other languages
  • Dutch: bumper
  • Japanese: バンパー (banpā)
  • Korean: 범퍼 (beompeo)
  • Russian: ба́мпер (bámper)

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

bumper (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Wonderfully large; (as if) filled to the bumpers at the top of a silo.
    We harvested a bumper crop of arugula and parsnips this year.
    a bumper collection of silly jokes

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

bumper (third-person singular simple present bumpers, present participle bumpering, simple past and past participle bumpered)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To drink from the vessels called bumpers.

Danish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

bumper

  1. present tense of bumpe

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English bumper.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bumper m (plural bumpers, diminutive bumpertje n)

  1. bumper of a car, fender

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Indonesian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch bumper, from English bumper.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈbʊmpər]
  • Hyphenation: bum‧pêr

Noun[edit]

bumpêr (first-person possessive bumperku, second-person possessive bumpermu, third-person possessive bumpernya)

  1. bumper.

Alternative forms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Noun[edit]

bumper m (plural bumpers)

  1. bumper of a car
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