[f. BUMP v.1 + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb to BUMP. a. intr. Sudden (usually repeated) collision or knocking. b. trans. Striking heavily, thrashing. c. Banging the posteriors of a person against a post or wall.
1842. Sir T. Martin, in Fraser’s Mag., Dec., 654/2. We had a very tedious passage…. Four days of most intolerable bumping about.
a. 1848. Marryat, R. Reefer, ix. The bumping of obnoxious ushers, and the ‘barring out’ of tyrannical masters.
1862. Whyte-Melville, Ins. Bar, vi. (ed. 12), 298. I had been disturbed and a little irritated by sundry bumpings and thumpings on the stairs and passages.
2. (See quot.)
1883. W. M. Williams, in Knowledge, 17 Aug., 99/1. This is a little dangerous, on account of the possibility of what the practical chemist calls ‘bumping,’ or the sudden formation of a big bubble of steam.
3. Comb., as bumping-race (see BUMP v.1 3).
1871. Proctor, Light Science, 298. A closely contested bumping-race.
