Chummery
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The building in which unmarried British army officers were quartered during the British Raj. India, historical
"1966, Paul Scott, "The Jewel in the Crown" in The Raj Quartet, 1966-1975. Close by, but only to be glimpsed through the gateway in a high stucco wall, similarly shaded, is the bungalow once known as the chummery where three of four of Mr White's unmarried sub-divisional officers - usually Indians of the uncovenanted provincial civil service - used to live when not on tour in their own allotted areas of the district."
- 2 The shared home of a group of men who are unmarried or working at a distance from their families. South-Asia
"Dicky could not afford living in the chummery, modest as it was. He had to explain this before he moved to a single room next the office where he worked all day."
Example
More examples"1966, Paul Scott, "The Jewel in the Crown" in The Raj Quartet, 1966-1975. Close by, but only to be glimpsed through the gateway in a high stucco wall, similarly shaded, is the bungalow once known as the chummery where three of four of Mr White's unmarried sub-divisional officers - usually Indians of the uncovenanted provincial civil service - used to live when not on tour in their own allotted areas of the district."
Etymology
From chum + -ery.
More for "chummery"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.