chum

/tʃʌm/ (bre, ipa) · /tʃʌm/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈchəm/ (ame, mw)

chum — noun

  • chumsingular
  • chumsplural

1. someone you spend time with and like very much, usually known since you were bot

1.名詞B2
釋義

someone you spend time with and like very much, usually known since you were both young

例句

Brian and his school chums met up every Friday at the same pub in Liverpool.

collocation: school chums / old chums

Mayumi flew to Osaka for a reunion with her childhood chums from primary school.

collocation: childhood chum / chums from [place]

同義詞
  • mate

    British informal, more current and far more common today

  • pal

    informal, used across British and American English

  • buddy

    American informal, friendlier and more current than 'chum'

反義詞
  • stranger

    someone you do not know at all

  • enemy

    someone who actively opposes you

文法句型

[person]'s chum

old chum

用法筆記

Common in British English and slightly dated; often paired with 'old' or 'school' to signal a long-standing friendship. Rarely used by younger speakers today, who prefer 'mate' or 'friend'.

常見錯誤

My chum company gave me a discount.
My friend's company gave me a discount.
💡'chum' refers to a person, not a business or organization.

2. small pieces of fish, meat, or other animal parts that people drop into the sea

2.名詞C1
釋義

small pieces of fish, meat, or other animal parts that people drop into the sea from a boat so that bigger fish will come close

例句

Mateo poured a bucket of chum into the water to draw sharks closer to the diving cage.

collocation: pour / dump chum into the water

The crew off the coast of Florida mixed fish heads and oil to make their own chum.

collocation: make / prepare chum

同義詞
  • bait

    broader term — any food used to attract fish or animals

  • groundbait

    British, specifically used in coarse fishing from a bank

文法句型

throw chum

a bucket of chum

用法筆記

Uncountable, like 'bait' — you say 'some chum' or 'a bucket of chum', not 'a chum' in this sense. Most often appears in fishing and shark-tourism contexts.

常見錯誤

I bought three chums at the bait shop.
I bought some chum at the bait shop.
💡in this sense 'chum' is uncountable, so no plural and no 'a/an'.

3. a large pink-fleshed salmon found across the northern Pacific Ocean and commonly

3.名詞C2
釋義

a large pink-fleshed salmon found across the northern Pacific Ocean and commonly caught for food

例句

Joon's grandfather smoked chum every autumn in his small wooden shed near the river.

collocation: smoke chum / catch chum

Fishermen in Alaska land thousands of chum during the late summer run each year.

phrase: chum run (seasonal migration)

同義詞
  • dog salmon

    alternative common name, especially in Alaska and parts of Canada

  • keta

    name used on menus, from the scientific name Oncorhynchus keta

文法句型

chum salmon

用法筆記

Often appears as 'chum salmon' to disambiguate from sense 1 and sense 2; bare 'chum' for the fish is mostly used by people in the fishing industry along the North Pacific coast.

常見錯誤

I ate a chum sandwich for lunch.
I ate a chum salmon sandwich for lunch.
💡bare 'chum' on a menu is ambiguous and most readers will not know it means salmon.

chum — verb