bum = B = burble

bump vt.

Synonym for increment. Has the same meaning as C's ++ operator. Used esp. of counter variables, pointers, and index dummies in for, while, and do-while loops.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

Slang. In drug circles, a bump is a small amount of a substance that you plan on inhaling. For instance, rather than snorting a whole line of coke, you can take the edge of your credit card/drivers license/key/etc dip it into the larger pile of white, and bring the smaller pile you've scooped up to your nose, and sniff. Voila! That's a bump.

How to Bump a Volleyball

The bump or pass is a major technique in volleyball that involves bouncing the ball off the forearms. It is generally used when receiving a serve or spike from the opposing team and is used to set up the typical "bump-set-spike" three move play. During official games the player must hold their hands together when bumping, otherwise the pass is illegal. The player also cannot catch or hold the ball on their forearms, also known as a "lift" or "carry."

Steps:

• First, do your best to get in a stationary position in the path of the oncoming volleyball. This position gives you the most control of the ball; hitting the ball when it is to the side of you or when you are moving is much more difficult. Bend your knees and extend your arms out at a 45 degree angle with your palms facing up. Clasp your hands together by placing one hand on top of the other and wrapping the fingers of the lower hand around the upper. Some people clasp their hands together simply by placing the palms together and lacing the fingers, but this slightly alters the flat surface of the forearms and is generally not recommended.
• Next, contact the ball around waist level with the lower area of both of your forearms. Keep your elbows straight during the contact. Avoid bumping the volleyball with your elbows or hands, as this makes it more difficult to control the ball. Also avoid swinging your arms, since that can give the ball much more force than necessary. Instead, gently push up with your knees as you hit the ball and square your shoulders toward your target.
• In the beginning, practice bumping a volleyball that has been gently thrown to you. This will give you enough time to get in front of the ball and let you learn exactly where to contact it. If you don't have a partner, try bumping the volleyball off a large wall. As you become better work on passing balls that are thrown at you more forcefully. Soon you should be comfortable bumping balls that have been spiked or served with great force. Good luck!

BUMP can be an acronym for Bring Up My Post.

Many Internet message boards arrange their threads so that the discussions with the most recent activity appear on the top of the screen. As a result, lively threads with active discussion are easiest to find; to see discussions that are a little more sedate, one must scroll down or click a button to go to earlier screens.

On boards that are set up this way, a thread can quickly disappear from public view if other threads take off in popularity. Like the New Writeups nodelet here on everything2, how long your favourite thread stays visible is partially a matter of luck. If someone floods the board with new topics, it may cause a perfectly good post to get pushed past the bottom of the screen.

Some people get aggravated when one of their posts disappears more quickly than they expected. These people deal with their primitive aggression by writing a response to their own post that contains the single word BUMP. The software, noticing "activity" in the thread, "bumps" the post up to the top.

Of course, many of the posts that fall off the bottom of the activity list do so, not because of bad luck, but rather, because they are boring, irrelevant, or not worth reading for other reasons. Such a post is not likely to bring about genuine discussion by means of a BUMP. However, the Internet is full of people who do not recognize this fact, and who continue to write BUMP-BUMP-BUMP as footnotes to their own posts in a desperate attempt to get attention. As if that's not bad enough, occasionally a catalogue of BUMPs is interrupted by whiny pleas for responses.

"Anyone out there?"
"What do you think?"
"Hello?"
"BUMP"
"BUMP"
"Hello?"
"BUMP"

Oddly, some of these people find it surprising when a thread made up of seventeen posts -- thirteen of which are BUMPs and three of which are tantrums, all attached to a message that was pointless to begin with -- does not endear them to the board moderators.

Bump (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bumped (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Bumping.] [Cf. W. pwmp round mass, pwmpiaw to thump, bang, and E. bum, v.i., boom to roar.]

To strike, as with or against anything large or solid; to thump; as, to bump the head against a wall.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Bump, v. i.

To come in violent contact with something; to thump.

"Bumping and jumping."

Southey.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Bump (?), n. [From Bump to strike, to thump.]

1.

A thump; a heavy blow.

2.

A swelling or prominence, resulting from a bump or blow; a protuberance.

It had upon its brow A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone. Shak.

3. Phren.

One of the protuberances on the cranium which are associated with distinct faculties or affections of the mind; as, the bump of "veneration;" the bump of "acquisitiveness."

[Colloq.]

4.

The act of striking the stern of the boat in advance with the prow of the boat following.

[Eng.]

 

© Webster 1913.

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Bump, v. i. [See Boom to roar.]

To make a loud, heavy, or hollow noise, as the bittern; to boom.

As a bittern bumps within a reed. Dryden.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Bump, n.

The noise made by the bittern.

 

© Webster 1913.