[T]hey now shook hands heartily, and drank bumpers of strong beer to healths which we think proper to bury in oblivion.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
Pork ſucceeds to Beef, Pies to Puddings: The Cloth is remov'd, Madam, drench'd vvith a Bumper, drops a Courtſey, and departs; […]1756 February 3 (first performance), Samuel Foote, The Englishman Return’d from Paris, Being the Sequel to The Englishman in Paris. A Farce […], London: […] Paul Vaillant, […], published 1756, →OCLC, Act I, page 27:
4 more examples
Yet can I gulp a bumper to thy name,— / O smile among the shades, for this is fame!1818, John Keats, Written in the cottage where Burns was born:
Mr. Horrocks served myself and my pupils with three little glasses of wine, and a bumper was poured out for my lady.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 8, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
Sydney Carton drank the punch at a great rate; drank it by bumpers, looking at his friend.1859, Charles Dickens, chapter XI, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
Pour, oh, pour the pirate sherry; / Fill, O fill the pirate glass; / And, to make us more than merry, / Let the pirate bumper pass.1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Pirates of Penzance […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC:
A cylindrical object used (as a substitute for birds) to train dogs to retrieve.
9
Broadcasting, Media A short ditty or jingle used to separate a show from the advertisements.
10
Dated, Slang A covered house at a theatre, etc., in honour of some favourite performer.
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Caribbean, Jamaica, Slang A woman's posterior, particularly one that is considered full and desirable.
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music An extra musician (not notated in the score) who assists the principal French horn by playing less-exposed passages, so that the principal can save their 'lip' for difficult solos. Also applied to other sections of the orchestra.
13
An object on a playfield that applies force to the pinball when hit, often giving a minor increase in score.
Hobbies, Horse racing, Horseracing, Horses, Lifestyle, Pets, Racing, Sports In National Hunt racing, a flat race for horses that have not yet competed either in flat racing or over obstacles.
Colloquial Wonderfully large; (as if) filled to the bumpers at the top of a silo, or successful in this regard.
a bumper collection of silly jokes
What a bumper year for apples!
2 more examples
We harvested a bumper crop of arugula and parsnips this year.
"I see I must bribe you to harbour me—come, pledge me in a bumper health to the last young lady that slept at Wolf's Crag, and liked her quarters.—My bones are not so tender as hers, and I am resolved to occupy her apartment tonight, that I may judge how hard the couch is that love can soften."1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
bumper
verb
Etymology From bump + -er.
1
Obsolete To drink from the vessels called bumpers.