bumper

noun

1. Someone or something that bumps.
2. (obsolete)A drinking vessel filled to the brim.

   “[T]hey now shook hands heartily, and drank bumpers of strong beer to healths which we think proper to bury in oblivion.”

   “Pork ſucceeds to Beef, Pies to Puddings: The Cloth is remov'd, Madam, drench'd vvith a Bumper, drops a Courtſey, and departs; […]”

   “Yet can I gulp a bumper to thy name,— / O smile among the shades, for this is fame!”

   “Mr. Horrocks served myself and my pupils with three little glasses of wine, and a bumper was poured out for my lady.”

   “Sydney Carton drank the punch at a great rate; drank it by bumpers, looking at his friend.”

3. (attributive, colloquial)Anything large or successful.
4. Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision; fender.
5. Any mechanical device used to absorb an impact, soften a collision, or protect against impact.

   “The company sells screw-on rubber bumpers and feet.”

6. A bouncer.
7. A side wall of a pool table.
8. A cylindrical object used (as a substitute for birds) to train dogs to retrieve.
9. 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.
11. (Caribbean, Jamaica, slang)A woman's posterior, particularly one that is considered full and desirable.
12. 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.
14. (Australia, slang)A cigarette butt.
15. In National Hunt racing, a flat race for horses that have not yet competed either in flat racing or over obstacles.
16. A shoulder button on a gamepad.
17. Synonym of gutter guard (“rail to prevent a ball from rolling into the gutter”).

adj

1. (colloquial, not-comparable)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!”

   “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."”

verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete)To drink from the vessels called bumpers.