chum

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
chum1 informal

▶noun a close friend. ▶verb (chums, chumming, chummed)

• 1 (chum up) form a friendship with someone.

• 2 Scottish accompany (someone) somewhere.

– derivatives
chummily adverb,
chumminess noun,
chummy adjective .

– origin C17: prob. short for chamber-fellow; cf. comrade and crony.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
chum2 chiefly N. Amer.

▶noun chopped fish and other material used as bait.

■ the remains of fish, especially after oil has been expressed.

▶verb (chums, chumming, chummed) fish using chum as bait.

– origin C19: of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
chum3

▶noun (pl. same or chums) a large North Pacific salmon that is commercially important as a food fish. [Oncorhynchus keta.]

– origin early 20th cent.: from Chinook Jargon tzum (samun), lit. ‘spotted (salmon)’.