Yahoo Web Search

Search results

1. Dictionary

   bump·er

   /ˈbəmpər/

   noun

   • 1. a horizontal bar fixed across the front or back of a motor vehicle to reduce damage in a collision or as a trim: "she started the car with a jerk and hit the bumper of the car in front"
   • ▪ a shock-absorbing piston projecting from a cross-beam at the end of a railway track or at the end of a railway vehicle. North American
   • 2. a generous glassful of an alcoholic drink, typically one drunk as a toast. archaic

   adjective

   • 1. exceptionally large, fine, or successful: "a bumper crop"

   Word Origin early 17th century (in the sense ‘person or thing that bumps something’): from bump + -er1. bumper (sense 4 of the noun) derives from the earlier form bumping, meaning ‘very large, great’, and is the source of the adjective meaning ‘exceptionally large, fine, or successful’, as in a bumper year. bumper (sense 3 of the noun) is said to be from an earlier racing term meaning ‘amateur rider’.

   Scrabble Points: 12

   • B

     3

   • U

     1

   • M

     3

   • P

     3

   • E

     1

   • R

     1

   Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

   More definitions, origin and scrabble points