Brumn.1adj.
/brʌm/, U.S. /brəm/ slang and colloquial.
A. n.1† 1. Originally: a counterfeit coin made in or associated with the English city of Birmingham. In later use more generally: anything which is not genuine; a fake, a counterfeit. Cf. Brummagem n. 2. Obsolete.
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1776 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opinions III. 84 That one was flirted at me by a young man who wanted to see if he could not hit the old woman on the head, by sending a halfpenny as he would play at taw and so wantonly..jerkt it at me from his finger and thumb, in this manner; and after all, sir, lookee, it is but a Brum.
1789 G. Parker Life's Painter xiv. 126 So nobles and gents, lug your counterfeits out, I'll take brums or cut ones, and thank you to boot.
1883 Daily Tel. 9 July 3/2 One [earring] might be gold, and the other a ‘Brum’, though exactly alike.
2. British. A native or inhabitant of the city of Birmingham. Cf. Brummie n. 1.
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1822 National Reg. 21 July 242/2 Arthur was floored by a tremendous nobber..and the Brums began to look blue.
1895 Punch 23 Feb. 87/2 There ain't ne'er a Cockney C.C. as can side-up with Joey the Brum.
1929 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 22 Oct. 2/4 The chief bout..was..between Len Harvey, London..and Jack Hood, Birmingham... That there were plenty of ‘Brums’ in evidence was seen by the reception given to Hood.
1997 New Statesman 28 Nov. 46/3 Off I went to the British Country Music Awards in Birmingham... The home-brewed talent got the Brums off their seats.
2006 R. Blechta When Hell freezes Over xxiii. 237 Believe it or not, she's a Brum, as you call them, born and bred.
3. British. (A nickname for) the city of Birmingham.
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1857 Times 2 June 9 On it [sc. a banner]..in large letters—‘Welcome brave warior [sic]! Whose vallor [sic] none surpassed; Who fought his country's battles, And has come to Brum at last.’
1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing x. 258 He told me his old partner..had left him to join the run-out boys from Brum—that is, the gang from Birmingham running a fake auction.
1971 P. Lovesey Detective wore Silk Drawers (1980) vii. 72 ‘What made you pick Birmingham, Sarge?’ ‘I didn't particularly... Brum was likeliest to turn something up, though.’
2013 Daily Tel. 6 Feb. 3/4 (heading) This son of Brum: did Richard III issue orders in tones of the West Midlands?
B. adj.† 1. Esp. of a coin: fake, counterfeit; not genuine. Cf. Brummagem adj. 1. Obsolete.
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the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > [adjective]
counterfeitedc1385
counterfeitc1386
trothlessa1393
bastard1397
forged1484
apocryphate1486
adulterate?a1509
mockisha1513
sophisticate1531
adulterine1542
adulterous1547
mock1548
forbate1558
coined1582
firking1594
feigned1598
adulterated1610
apocryphal1612
spurious1615
usurpeda1616
impostured1619
mock-madea1625
suppository1641
affictitious1656
pasteboard1659
sophisticated1673
flam1678
Brummagem1679
sham1681
belieda1718
fictitious1739
Birmingham1785
pinchbeck1790
brummish1803
Brum1805
flash1812
spurious1830
bogus1839
imitative1839
dummy1846
doctored1853
postiche1854
pseudo1854
Brummagemish1855
snide1859
inauthentic1860
fake1879
bum1884
Brummie1886
tin1886
filled1887
duff1889
faked1890
shicec1890
margarine1891
dud1904
Potemkin village1904
mocked-up1919
phoney baloney1936
four-flushing1942
bodgie1956
moody1958
disauthentic1960
bodgied1988
bodgied-up1988
1805 S. J. Pratt Harvest-home III. 79 A Brum Guinea from your mint, Although it scarce had sixpence in't, Might so the sacred Image bear, 'Twas George's honest stamp you'd swear.
1851 Househ. Words 25 Jan. 424/1 So, a sovereign—(though we ain't got much to do with gold here—that's made for the most part in Brummagem)—a ‘Brum’ sovereign may be bought for about four-and-six.
1881 Standard 27 Sept. 2/1 The Lobster Smack, the house of call for the ‘brum’—i.e. unlicensed—pilots, who are patronised by captains objecting to the higher dues charged by the regular Trinity House men at Gravesend..Beside the fire is seated one of the ‘brum’ pilots.
1883 S. G. Thomas in R. W. Burnie Mem. & Lett. (1891) xvi. 220 Selling us some fraudulent Brum. coins at ten times their value,..leaving me with one and a half rupees in my pocket.
2. British. Of, belonging to, or characteristic of the city of Birmingham or its inhabitants. Cf. Brummie adj. 2.In quot. 1885 with reference to Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914); cf. note at Birminghamize v. 2.
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1885 Fun 8 Apr. 149/1 One Slater, having charged ‘Brum Joe’ With shady tricks, not long ago.
1943 M. Harrison Reported Safe Arrival 43 The Brum Boys had to concede the title of a superior flyness to Penny and the other Cockneys.
1967 Guardian 1 May 5/1 ‘What's your name?’ a parrot shouts in a thick Brum accent.
2012 Times (Nexis) 22 June (T2 section) 8 [The album] features Lawrence's dour Brum humour and melodic skills.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
brumv.
/brʌm/, /brʊm/, U.S. /brəm/, /brʊm/α. 1800s– brum.
β. 1900s– broom.
γ. 1900s– brm.
Forms with one or more of the letters occurring two or more times are also attested. Also reduplicated. 1. intransitive. To murmur, to hum.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > faintness or weakness > sound faintly or quietly [verb (intransitive)] > make murmuring sounds
murmurc1395
croona1500
mustle1570
mute1570
simmera1637
hummer1691
remurmur1697
hum1730
mummer1763
whimper?1795
mutter1797
brum1844
rumour1894
1844 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 56 207 Now this is the strangest well!..always humming and brumming.
1882 L. G. Noble Reverend Idol xv. 241 So softly he brummed away on the more ambitious slurs, and let fly on the notes he was sure of.
1905 Smart Set May 65/1 Her aunt and Madame Kéroulan had retired to the end of the garden and only a big bee, brumming overhead, was near.
1921 D. Richardson Deadlock 74 Out in the street he walked quickly along brumming to himself.
1973 Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Feb. 152/2 The bees brooming around the roses.
2. intransitive. Of a motor vehicle: to make a roaring or rumbling noise while moving; (of a person) to travel in a vehicle that makes such a noise. Also of a person (esp. a child): to imitate this noise. Chiefly with adverb or adverbial phrase. Also reduplicated.
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α.
γ. 1973 Mason County (Texas) News 25 Oct. 9/2 He zooms or brrms by usually to be slowed down a little further by another slowpoke.1992 Times 11 Dec. 2/2 Who was this, brrm-brrming extravagantly and doing a wheelie along the Labour backbenches with his jest about Newton being a dud substitute?2012 J. Wilson-Howarth Glimpse of Eternal Snows (rev. ed.) vi. 71 He put his imaginary car into gear..and brrmm-brrmmed happily until the rice was cooked.β. 1984 Art Jrnl. 44 208/1 My son..asks why turning the key makes the engine ‘broom’ into life.1995 Independent (Nexis) 4 June 20 There is also C Thomas Howell, as an unlikely motorbike messenger. He seems to be broom-brooming through the film.2015 A. Bruce tr. A. Holt Dead Joker 208 She..ran her fingers lightly over the leather seat behind the little boy who was broom-brooming and roaring, obviously taking part in an important race.1950 F. F. Manfred Brother i. 61 A car brummed by at excessive speed.
1977 Punch 14 Sept. 448/2 The train back to Cambridge brum-brummed sleepily through Needham Market, Downham Market, [etc.].
1995 T. Parks Ital. Educ. 42 Michele is attracted to the sound of a bulldozer... He tugs at my trousers and brum brums.
2012 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 2 Jan. 5 Most motorcycle riders..love having the wind blowing their hair as they brum along on whatever they are brumming along on.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
brumint.n.2
/brʌm/, /brʊm/, U.S. /brəm/, /brʊm/α. 1800s– brum, 1900s– barum.
β. 1800s– brm.
γ. 1900s– baroom, 1900s– broom.
Forms with a, r, o, u, or m occurring two or more times are also attested. Also frequently reduplicated. A. int.
1. Representing a humming or murmuring sound. Now rare.
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1842 New Monthly Mag. Aug. 452 A word is occasionally detected... ‘Brum-brum-brum early impression brum-brum fine preservation brum-brum—’.
1872 A. Matthison Half Hour with Good Author 74 Brrm—brrm—brrm—doubtfully drones her [spinning] wheel.
1889 Irish Monthly Sept. 451 I shut my ears when she grumbles—Brum, brum, brum—it is like a great bumble bee humming round one.
1989 Daily Herald (Chicago) 15 June (Showcase section) 6/1 Every day in the late afternoon, it began with a piano going ‘brrm, brrm, brrm’ and then the Kuklapolitans singing ‘Here We Are Again’.
2. Representing a roaring or rumbling noise, now esp. that made by a moving motor vehicle or its engine. Also representing an imitation of this noise by a person (esp. a child).
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1863 Monthly Packet Mar. 295 The loud noise of a drum... Brum, brum, brum!
1956 French Rev. 29 333 Playing with his cars and trucks, he [sc. a child] says, ‘Brum-brum’.
1968 Brownsville (Texas) Herald 24 Sept. 1/8 To me it sounded like a series of explosions, a rumbling sound—brrroom, brrroom.
1988 Lang. in Soc. 7 221 I get in, turn the key, BRRRMM, and I drive home.
2014 Sydney MX (Nexis) 24 Jan. 3 Brmmm, brmmm, brmmmm, start your engines.
B. n.2† 1. A humming or murmuring sound. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > faintness or weakness > [noun] > faint or weak sound > murmuring sound
murmuringc1385
murmur?a1425
murmell1535
babblea1592
muttering1613
huma1616
mussitation1649
simmering1689
croon1725
babbling1736
brool1837
brooling1837
brum1842
babblement1860
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > continuous or protracted sound > [noun] > monotonous sound > hum
humblingc1384
hummingc1440
hum1601
reel1747
reeling1747
bum1790
bumble1834
brum1842
1842 New Monthly Mag. Aug. 452 A word is occasionally detected: the rest is one unmitigated brum-brum-brum.
1906 U. Sinclair Jungle i. 1 Half a block away you could hear the dull ‘broom, broom’ of a 'cello, with the squeaking of two fiddles which vied with each other in intricate and altitudinous gymnastics.
2. A roaring or rumbling noise, (now) esp. that made by a moving motor vehicle or its engine. Cf. vroom n.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > engine sound > [noun] > roaring
brum1885
rev1942
vroom1967
α.
β. 1935 H. E. W. Gay in Argosy Sept. 105/2 Their first message came with a roar overhead, and reverberating brrmm! of distant gunfire.1970 Sunday Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) 18 Nov. (advt.) A throttle you can adjust to rev up the engine from a slow and easy brrm-brrm, to a wide-open, wild ba-roooom!2010 M. Hebblethwaite Paraguay v. 153 If you have dozed off on the bus you may come to as you cross the bridge over the Río Tebicuarý into Misiones, because of the gentle brrm-brrm of the low speed-bumps.γ. 1917 R. J. H. Powel Let. 21 Sept. in Harvard Alumni Bull. (1918) 21 Mar. 477/2 One night, when below in my bunk, I found myself with several others breezing up the hatch way with the muffled ‘broooom’ of an explosion.2010 South Wales Evening Post (Nexis) 23 June 18 In the pitch black you could hear the ‘broom broom broom’. It was the German engines.1885 Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe 2 Aug. The eternal brum-brum-brum of the car wheels..sounds in your ears.
1904 D. Tilton My Lady Laughter xv. 129 The brum-brum-brum of the drums mocked at the sanctity of time and place.
1916 H. Walpole Dark Forest vii. 183 I could hear the muffled ‘brum-brum’ of the cannons.
1968 G. Kronvall tr. O. Länsberg Dear John vi. 47 You heard the secure brum-brum-brum from the engine.
2003 K. Creighton Top Gun's Return xiii. 207 She heard the brum-brum of the motorcycle's engine.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1adj.1776v.1844int.n.21842