Used in indicating a thing or person which has two or more roles, functions, or natures, or which has changed from one to another.
He built a bus-cum-greenhouse that made a bold statement, but the plants in it didn't live very long.
But instead of being a salespersoncum baristacum waitress merely serving the wordsmiths, I'm one of them, reading her latest baby out loud.
1926-1950,George Bernard Shaw,Collected Letters: 1926-1950[1], University of California/Viking, published1985, page31:
He is too good an actor to need that sort of tomfoolery: the effect will be far better if he is a credible mining camp elder-cum-publican.
1944 May and June, “Notes and News: The Snailbeach District Railway”, inRailway Magazine, page183:
One driver-cum-fireman-cum-fitter looks after the three locomotives, [...].
2001 Nov/Dec, David Sachs, “LET THEM EAT BITS”, inAmerican Spectator, volume34, number 8, page78:
The banner shows a yellowed silhouette of a boy (possibly Calvin, of Calvin & Hobbes) urinating on an EU flag. Sites such as this show the full power of the Internet as a propaganda mediumcum travel servicecum organizing tool. Oh, and nightlife directory.
Coffee shops-cum-meeting-spots dotted across the city are teeming (Equator, Blue Bottle and Saint Frank). Caffeine-fuelled, lactose-intolerant, macadamia milk latte-drinking young folk are journalling, manifesting, coding, ChatGPT-ing and pitching their ideas.
For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:cum.
Variant ofcome, attested (in the basic sense "come, move from further to nearer, arrive") since Old English. The sexual sense ofcome is attested since the 1650s. In this sense and spelling, attested from 1970s.[4]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked: "translations to be checked"
1997 July 14, “Visits, Conjugal, and Otherwise”, inOz, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau):
I got no sensation down there, so I don't know when I'm hard, I don't know when Icum. My wife's gotta tell me.
2019, “All Humans Too Late”, inThe Book of Traps and Lessons, performed byKae Tempest:
Sucking on pork ribs and summoning pornography / So that we cancum when we fuck / Our partners don’t know us / Our families are strangers
Eye dialect spelling ofcome(“move from further to nearer; arrive”).
1882, William Makepeace Thayer,From Log-Cabin to White House, page162:
“Where'd hecum from?” the bowman inquired. “That's what we'd like ter know, yer see; where hecum from, and how he happen'd tocum,” responded the steersman. “But he's a jolly good feller, strong as a lion,[…]”
Many style guides and editors recommend the spellingcome for verb uses (to orgasm/to ejaculate) while strictly allowing the spellingcum for the noun (semen/female ejaculatory discharge). Both spellings are sometimes found in either the noun or verb sense, however. Others prefer to distinguish in formality, usingcome for any formal usage andcum only in slang, erotic or pornographic contexts.[5]
The past tense and past participle variantcummed is used when the verb is felt as a denominal from the noun rather than a specialized sense of the verbcome.
In the sense ofwhen, if there is no causal link between the verb in the dependent clause and the verb in the main clause (sometimes called an invertedcum-clause, as the 'main action' of the sentence occurs in the dependent clause), the indicative is used rather than the subjunctive.
Per viam ambulābāmuscum pugnam vīdimus. [not*vīderīmus]
We were walking through the streetwhen we saw a fight.
Often coupled withtum, such thattum X, cum Y means "then X, when Y", andcum X tum Y means "not only X but also Y".
(preposition) “cum”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
(conjunction) “cum”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“cum”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"cum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
cum inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book[3], London:Macmillan and Co.
a storm accompanied by heavy claps of thunder:tempestas cum magno fragore (caeli) tonitribusque (Liv. 1. 16)
to have the same boundaries; to be coterminous:continentem esse terrae orcum terra (Fam. 15. 2. 2)
at the same moment that, precisely when:eo ipso tempore, cum; tum ipsum, cum
occasions arise for..:incidunt tempora, cum
I have not seen you for five years:quinque anni sunt orsextus annus est, cum te non vidi
to live to see the day when..:diem videre, cum...
with many tears:multis cum lacrimis
with many tears:magno cum fletu
so-and-so is in a very satisfactory position; prospers:agitur praeclare, bene cum aliquo
under such circumstances:quae cum ita sint
to struggle with adversity:conflictari (cum) adversa fortuna
to balance a loss by anything:damnum compensare cum aliqua re
to form a friendship with any one:amicitiam cum aliquo jungere, facere, inire, contrahere
I am on good terms with a person:est orintercedit mihi cum aliquo amicitia
I am on bad terms with a person:sunt orintercedunt mihi cum aliquo inimicitiae
to be bound by the closest ties of friendship:artissimo amicitiae vinculo orsumma familiaritate cum aliquo coniunctum esse
to be at enmity with a man:inimicitias gerere, habere, exercere cum aliquo
to make a person one's enemy:inimicitias cum aliquo suscipere
to reconcile two people; to be a mediator:in gratiam aliquem cum aliquo reducere
to be reconciled; to make up a quarrel:in gratiam cum aliquo redire
to expostulate with a person about a thing:conqueri, expostulare cum aliquo de aliqua re
I heard him say..:ex eo audivi, cum diceret
to confuse true with false:vera cum falsis confundere
to imbibe error from one's mother's breasts:errorem cum lacte nutricis sugere (Tusc. 3. 1. 2)
(1) to communicate one's plans to some one; (2) to make common cause with a person. Similarlyc. causam, rationem:consilia cum aliquo communicare
to think over, consider a thing:secum (cum animo) reputare aliquid
to think over, consider a thing:considerare in, cum animo, secum aliquid
to enjoy close intercourse with... (of master and pupil):multum esse cum aliquo (Fam. 16. 21)
to be closely connected with a thing:cohaerere, coniunctum esse cum aliqua re
to maintain a controversy with some one:controversiam (contentionem) habere cum aliquo
to come to an understanding with a person:transigere aliquid cum aliquo
to agree with a person:consentire, idem sentire cum aliquo
to disagree with a person:dissentire, dissidere ab orcum aliquo
to be united by having a common language:eiusdem linguae societate coniunctum esse cum aliquo (De Or. 3. 59. 223)
to hold an altercation with a man:verbis concertare oraltercari cum aliquo (B. C. 3. 19. 6)
to correspond with some one:colloqui cum aliquo per litteras
to my sorrow:cum magno meo dolore
my relations with him are most hospitable:mihi cum illo hospitium est, intercedit
to become a friend and guest of a person:hospitium cum aliquo facere, (con-)iungere
to associate with some one:societatem inire, facere cum aliquo
to be always in some one's company:assiduum esse cum aliquo
to be on friendly terms with a person:usu, familiaritate, consuetudine coniunctum esse cum aliquo
to be on friendly terms with a person:est mihi consuetudo, orusus cum aliquo
to be on friendly terms with a person:vivere cum aliquo
relations are strained between us:in simultate cum aliquo sum
to enter into conversation with some one:sermonem conferre,instituere, ordiri cum aliquo
to enter into conversation with some one:se dare in sermonem cum aliquo
to converse, talk with a person on a subject:sermonem habere cum aliquo de aliqua re (De Am. 1. 3)
to meet a person by arrangement, interview him:congredi cum aliquo
to speak personally to..:coram loqui (cum aliquo)
to shake hands with a person:dextram iungere cum aliquo, dextras inter se iungere
to be married to some one:nuptam esse cum aliquo oralicui
to separate from, divorce (of the man):divortium facere cum uxore
to have business relations with some one:contrahere rem ornegotium cum aliquo (Cluent. 14. 41)
to transact, settle a matter with some one:transigere aliquid (de aliqua re) cum aliquo orinter se
to do no business with a man:nihil cum aliquo contrahere
to balance accounts with some one:rationes putarecum aliquo
to be content with 12 per cent at compound interest:centesimis cum anatocismo contentum esse (Att. 5. 21. 12)
to contend with some one for the pre-eminence:contendere cum aliquo de principatu (Nep. Arist. 1)
to submit a formal proposition to the people:agere cum populo (Leg. 3. 4. 10)
to be on a person's side (notab alicuius partibus):ab (cum) aliquo stare (Brut. 79. 273)
to take some one's side:cum aliquo facere (Sull. 13. 36)
to conspire with some one:conspirare cum aliquo (contra aliquem)
to have unlimited power; to be invested withimperium:cum imperio esse (cf. XVI. 3)
to go to law with a person:(ex) iure, lege agere cum aliquo
to proceed against some one with the utmost rigour of the law; to strain the law in one's favour:summo iure agere cum aliquo (cf.summum ius, summa iniuria)
to live with some one on an equal footing:aequo iure vivere cum aliquo
to isolate a witness:aliquem a ceteris separare et in arcam conicere ne quis cum eo colloqui possit (Mil. 22. 60)
to join forces with some one:copias (arma) cum aliquo iungere orse cum aliquo iungere
to hold a high command:cum imperio esse
to be armed:cum telo esse
to begin a war with some one:bellum cum aliquo inire
to make war on a person:bellum gerere cum aliquo
to advance with the army:procedere cum exercitu
with wife and child:cum uxoribus et liberis
to come to close quarters:manum (us) conserere cum hoste
to come to close quarters:signa conferre cum hoste
to fight a pitched, orderly battle with an enemy:iusto (opp.tumultuario)proelio confligere cum hoste (Liv. 35. 4)
a hand-to-hand engagement ensued:tum pes cum pede collatus est (Liv. 28. 2)
with great loss:magno cum detrimento
to treat with some one about peace:agere cum aliquo de pace
to make peace with some one:pacem facere cum aliquo
to conclude a treaty with some one:pactionem facere cum aliquo (Sall. Iug. 40)
to conclude a treaty, an alliance:foedus facere (cum aliquo), icere, ferire
allow me to say:bona (cum) venia tua dixerim
putting aside, except:cum discessi, -eris, -eritis ab
^McCone, Kim (1997)The Early Irish Verb (Maynooth Monographs 1), 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart,→ISBN, page34: “This process favoured the type without final unstressed vowel, whence-cum alongside-cumai (con:ic)”
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page131
