Bummery

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The faction of the Industrial Workers of the World in the 20th century which favored direct action. historical, uncountable

    "When De Leon broke with the I. W. W. in 1908 there were again members of the Party who declaimed against his abandoning the I. W. W. - members who had no sympathy with the bummery element."

  2. 2
    Obsolete form of bottomry. alt-of, obsolete

    "R. North There was a scrivener of Wapping brought to hearing for relief against a bummery bond."

Example

More examples

"When De Leon broke with the I. W. W. in 1908 there were again members of the Party who declaimed against his abandoning the I. W. W. - members who had no sympathy with the bummery element."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From bum + -ery and the idea that they were a collective of bums?

Etymology 2

Variant form.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.