chum

1 of 6

noun (1)

ˈchəm 

: a close friend : pal

chumship

ˈchəm-ˌship 

noun

chum

2 of 6

verb (1)

chummed; chumming

intransitive verb

1

: to room together

2

a

: to be a close friend

b

: to show affable friendliness

c

: to spend time with someone as a friend

—usually used with around

In the early '50s he entered Cornell University but quit after two years and lit out for Greenwich Village, where he studied drama and chummed around with James Dean.

—William Plummer et al.

chum

3 of 6

noun (2)

: animal or vegetable matter (such as chopped fish or corn) thrown overboard to attract fish

chum

4 of 6

verb (2)

chummed; chumming

transitive verb

: to attract with chum

intransitive verb

: to throw chum overboard to attract fish

chum

5 of 6

noun (3)

: chum salmon

chum salmon

6 of 6

noun (4)

variants or less commonly chum

: a metallic bluish green salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) of the northern Pacific Ocean and Arctic Ocean that may reach a length of about 3.5 feet (1 meter) but is typically smaller

Note: Upon entering fresh water to spawn, the male chum salmon develops large, sharp teeth and becomes dark green to brown with reddish-purple vertical stripes.

Synonyms of chum

Noun (1)

• friend
• buddy

Verb (1)

• associate
• travel
• run
• bond
• mix
• join
• connect
• friend
• befriend
• mingle
• company
• collaborate

Examples of chum in a Sentence

Noun (1)

college chums who go way back

Verb (1)

they always chum around together

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The innards dribble out into the water and act as chum. —Byron W. Dalrymple, Outdoor Life, 4 June 2026

He gets reacquainted 15 years later with his Sword of Power along with childhood chum Teela (Camila Mendes), who’s brainier and brawnier than the majority of the guys, and his former Man-at-Arms Duncan (Idris Elba), the former protector of Adam’s family. —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 3 June 2026

Verb

We were taken diving without a cage in water that had been chummed with blood to attract sharks. —Michael H Gavshon, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2026

Anglers can also chum with a variety of frozen baits. —Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026

Noun

By checking fragments of DNA in a sample against a library of fish genomes, Parsons and Van Cise can identify the exact species a whale ate over a roughly 24-hour period and in what relative amounts—for instance, 60 percent Chinook salmon, 30 percent chum salmon, 10 percent halibut. —Kelso Harper, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025

These draggers also tossed more than 48,000 chum salmon overboard in 2024, along with 4.5 million pounds of halibut, 3 million pounds of herring, and one killer whale, according to NOAA. —Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 19 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

earlier "roommate, person living in the same dwelling," perhaps by shortening & alteration from chamber fellow or chamber mate

Verb (1)

verbal derivative of chum entry 1

Noun (2)

of uncertain origin

Note: The word is apparently first attested along the New England coast. The Dictionary of American Regional English suggests a relation to "obs[olete] Engl[ish] & Scots dial[ect] chum food," but the sole attestation of such a word ("chum food, provision for the belly, Clydes[dale]") is in John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808). Possibly related is chum "a formless mass (of vegetables) from over-boiling," in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English, which points to Ulster Scots champ "potatoes, boiled and mashed," recorded in Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary. This would presumably connect the word to champ entry 1.

Verb (2)

verbal derivative of chum entry 3

Noun (3) and Noun (4)

probably borrowed from Chinook Jargon cəm "spotted, striped," from Lower Chinook c̓ə́m "variegated"

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1684, in the meaning defined above

Verb (1)

1730, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1857, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

1857, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Noun (3)

1902, in the meaning defined above

Noun (4)

1907, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing chum

• chum for
• chum salmon
• chum up

Rhymes for chum

• bum
• come
• crum
• cum
• drum
• dum
• dumb
• from
• frum
• glum
• gum
• hum

Kids Definition

chum

1 of 2 noun

ˈchəm 

: a close friend

chum

2 of 2 verb

chummed; chumming

: to be chums

Etymology

Noun

probably a shortened and altered form of earlier chamber fellow "roommate"