chum

Etymology 1

1675–85; of uncertain origin, possibly from cham, shortening of chambermate, or from comrade. Less likely from Welsh cymrawd (“fellow”), compare brawd (“brother”).

noun

1. (dated) A friend; a pal.
   That made Thad think of Mark Twain, and he wondered whether the illustrious Tom Sawyer and his chum, Huckleberry Finn, had ever arranged a more fetching reception committee than this one[…] 1919, Donald Ferguson, chapter 13, in The Chums of Scranton High, or Hugh Morgan's Uphill Fight, Cleveland, New York: The World Syndicate Publishing Co., page 114
   Looking at the backgrounds of the leading personalities in the Brexit drama, it is hard not to conclude that Britain has been led into crisis in large part by a bunch of old chums who spent the last year holed up in a political hall of mirrors, plotting with and scheming against one another. 2016-07-07, Sarah Lyall, “British Politics Gives a Sense of Government by Old School Chums”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. (dated) A roommate, especially in a college or university.
   Field had a 'chum,' or room-mate, whose visage was suggestive to the 'Sophs;' it invited experiment; it held out opportunity for their peculiar deviltry. 1856 February, Paul Siogvolk, “Schediasms: My College Friend, Bosworth Field”, in The Knickerbocker: Or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume 47, number 2, page 161

verb

1. (intransitive) To share rooms with someone; to live together.
   Henry Wotton and John Donne began to be friends when, as boys, they chummed together at Oxford, where Donne had gone at the age of twelve years. 1899, Clyde Bowman Furst, A Group of Old Authors
   A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. (transitive) To lodge (somebody) with another person or people.
3. (intransitive) To make friends; to socialize.
   "You'll make yourself disliked on board!" "By von Heumann merely." "But is that wise when he's the man we've got to diddle?" "The wisest thing I ever did. To have chummed up with him would have been fatal -- the common dodge." 1902, Ernest William Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman
4. (transitive, Scotland, informal) To accompany.
   I'll chum you down to the shops.

Etymology 2

Originally American English, from the 1850s. Perhaps from Powhatan.

noun

1. (fishing, chiefly Canada, US) A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as groundbait to attract predator fish, such as sharks.
   The whale’s floating body also forms a chum slick on the surface—a trail of blood, oil, and chunks of fat and flesh that might stretch for miles across the water. […] This chum slick is what attracts sharks from afar. Seabirds are drawn to it too. 2021-03-18, Sarah Zhang, “A Gruesome Feeding Frenzy in the Atlantic Ocean”, in The Atlantic
   Most of us have seen the movie “Jaws”. Sheriff Brody is complaining about being the lucky one in charge of creating a chum line out of the back of the boat. The bucket is full of an awful combination of fish parts and blood. As he ladles scoop after scoop into the ocean, clearly, it was working… 2020, “The Best Methods to Go Chumming”, in Bait Binder, Coastal Baits, LLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-27

verb

1. (fishing, transitive, intransitive) To cast chum into the water to attract fish.
   He began to chum for sharks, using whale oil and chopped whale meat. 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, page 176
   Small live baitfish are effective, and they will take bits of fresh cut fish when chummed strongly. 1996, Frank Sargeant, The Reef Fishing Book: A Complete Anglers Guide

Etymology 3

noun

1. (pottery) A coarse mould for holding the clay while being worked on a whirler, lathe or manually.
   ...self-supporting chum within the mould normally of corresponding and almost the same but lesser contour, whereby a space is provided between the chum and mould for the introduction of the powdered material and means for expanding the chum'. 1915, The Pottery & Glass Salesman, volume 11, O'Gorman Publishing Company.
   He uses a round slab of clay, which he places on top of the chum and commences to thump down around the sides. 1920, The South African Journal of Industries, volume 3, part 2, p. 820
   1921, A Survey and Analysis of the Pottery Industry, bulletin no. 67, trade and industrial series no. 20, Washington: Federal Board for Vocational Training. Chum,—A mold used on the whirler to hold ware for scraping and finishing.
   Now that shapes were more uniform this was usually done on a horizontal lathe with the bowl automatically centred on a wooden chum This is a more useful method: it is used in making oval casseroles. The liner is made by spreading a bat and tehn forming it over a felt-covered chum, oval in shape. Chum or chuck: Lathe attachment for holding pots during turning process. 1972, Neal French, Industrial Ceramics—Tableware, Oxford University Press

Etymology 4

noun

1. The chum salmon