1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bum fodder, soft
paper for the necessary house, or torche-cul.
Bummaree, subs. (common).—A Billingsgate middle-man. These men, who are
not recognised as regular salesmen by the trade, are speculative buyers
of large quantities of fish, which they re-sell in smaller lots. [The
origin of the name is unknown, though some have speculated that it may
be from the French bon marée; others, however, think that it is akin to
bomerie, a French word for what in England is known as ‘bottomry,’
i.e., the act of borrowing money and pledging the bottom of the ship,
i.e., the ship itself, for the re-payment of the money. It is argued
that the leading idea in thus borrowing money on a ship’s keel is the
hazarding all on a single venture: hence possibly its application to
other transactions, especially those connected with the sea; such as
wholesale purchases of fish, in which a large risk is run with an
uncertain prospect of return—which is, it must be confessed, a somewhat
far-fetched derivation.] This wholesale retailing of fish is also
called bummareeing it.
1786. Report of Committee of City of London on Price of Provisions,
31. The bomarees will buy up half the fish the Salesmen have, and
sell to the Fishmongers. [M.]
1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., 71. In
Billingsgate the ‘forestallers’ or middle men are known as
bummarees.... The bummaree is the jobber or speculator on the fish
exchange.
1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 4 a.m., p. 17. Any one can be a
bumbaree.... The process of bumbareeing is very simple. It consists
in buying as largely as your means will afford of an auctioneer,
hiring a stall for sixpence, and retailing the fish at a swingeing
profit.
Bummed, ppl. adj. (old).—Arrested. Cf. verb, Bum and Bum-bailiff.
Bummer, subs. (old.)—1. A bum-bailiff (q.v.).