bumper

English

Etymology

From bump + -er.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

bumper (plural bumpers)

  1. (obsolete) A drinking vessel filled to the brim.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 443:
      [] they now shook hands heartily, and drank bumpers of strong beer to healths which we think proper to bury in oblivion.
    • 1818, 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!
    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 8:
      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, A Tale of Two Cities, chapter 11
      Sydney Carton drank the punch at a great rate; drank it by bumpers, looking at his friend.
  2. (colloquial, now chiefly attributive) Anything large or successful.
  3. (automotive) Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision; fender
  4. Any mechanical device used to absorb an impact, soften a collision, or protect against impact
    • The company sells screw-on rubber bumpers and feet.
  5. Someone or something that bumps.
  6. (cricket) A bouncer.
  7. (billiards) A side wall of a pool table.
  8. (broadcasting) A short ditty or jingle used to separate a show from the advertisements.
  9. (slang, dated) A covered house at a theatre, etc., in honour of some favourite performer.
  10. (slang, Caribbean) A woman's posterior, particularly one that is considered full and desirable.
  11. (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.
  12. (pinball) An object on a playfield that applies force to the pinball when hit, often giving a minor increase in score.

Descendants

Translations

Adjective

bumper (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Large; filled to the bumpers at the top of a silo.
    We harvested a bumper crop of arugula and parsnips this year.

Translations

Verb

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.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English bumper.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʏmpər/
  • (file)

Noun

bumper m (plural bumpers, diminutive bumpertje n)

  1. bumper of a car

Derived terms


Spanish

Noun

bumper m (plural bumpers)

  1. bumper of a car
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