bump

Definition

  • noun: a relatively abrupt convexity or protuberance on a surface
  • verb: to hit (something, such as part of your body) against an object in a sudden and forceful way
  • verb: to strike or knock with force or violence
  • often used figuratively in U.S. English
  • synonyms: thump, protuberance, boom

Examples

  • The flight was overbooked, and I was the first to 'be bumped'. [=my seat on the flight was the first seat to be given to someone else]

  • His career hit a 'bump' in the road. = His career hit a road 'bump'. [=something happened that slowed the progress of his career]

  • The airplane landed 'with a bump'. [=the airplane went up again and then down when it hit the ground]

Movie quotes

  • (..) - Huh. I just don't get the rhythms of politics Oh, you think this is political? If this was political, we'd be having this conversation in October, when there's an election bump. This is pure risk, based on deductive reasoning, inference, supposition, and the only human reporting (..)
    2012 Zero Dark Thirty