on the bum

on the bum

1. (US, slang) Living as a vagrant; homeless. [from 19th c.]
   • 1870, M.P. Murphy, Iron Molders' Journal‎, volume 32, Iron Molders' Union of North America, page 518:

     I ask, how many of these hobos, who are on the bum, have the courage to ask for the drink?

   • 1936, George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying:

     Even now, though it was December, a few poor draggled old wrecks were settling down on the benches, tucking themselves up in sort of parcels of newspaper. Gordon looked at them callously. On the bum, they called it.

2. (US, obsolete) On a drinking spree. [19th–20th c.]
3. (chiefly US, slang) Not working; out of order. [from 19th c.]
   • 1927, Hart Crane, letter, 28 March:

     My typewriter's on the bum—and I'm just lost. One gets so used to one that you're very dependent.

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on,‎ the,‎ bum.