Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - bump

(bumps, bumping, bumped) 1. If you bump into something or someone, you accidentally hit them while you are moving. They stopped walking and he almost bumped into them... He bumped his head on the low beams of the house. VERB: V into/against n, V n • Bump is also a noun. Small children often cry after a minor bump. N-COUNT 2. A bump is the action or the dull sound of two heavy objects hitting each other. I felt a little bump and I knew instantly what had happened... The child took five steps, and then sat down with a bump. N-COUNT 3. A bump is a minor injury or swelling that you get if you bump into something or if something hits you. She fell against our coffee table and got a large bump on her forehead. = lump N-COUNT 4. If you have a bump while you are driving a car, you have a minor accident in which you hit something. (INFORMAL) = accident, crash N-COUNT 5. A bump on a road is a raised, uneven part. The truck hit a bump and bounced. N-COUNT 6. If a vehicle bumps over a surface, it travels in a rough, bouncing way because the surface is very uneven. We left the road, and again bumped over the mountainside... VERB: V prep/adv, also V way adv/prep 7. see also goose bumps 8. If someone comes down to earth with a bump, they suddenly start recognizing unpleasant facts after a period of time when they have not been doing this. Company bosses have come back down to earth with a bump after a period of post-election euphoria. PHRASE: PHR after v c darkgreen]emphasis