U.S. slang. [cf. Ger. bummler in same sense.] An idler, lounger, loafer. See also quots. Hence Bummerish a.
1865. Maj. Nicholls, Gt. March, in Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Sept., 11/2. If it be asked what a ‘bummer’ is, the reply is easy. He is a raider on his own account—a man who temporarily deserts his place in the ranks … and starts out upon an independent foraging expedition.
1865. Atlantic Monthly, March, 286/1. The brain, that I used to think a lazy bummer, that lived at the stomach’s expense.
1872. C. King, Mountain. Sierra Nev., ii. 36. Indians … lying off with that peculiar bummerish ease.
1878. Black, Green Past. (ed. 2), III. 83. A system of local government controlled by 30,000 bummers, loafers, and dead-beats.
