A Bumper Crop Is a Full One, Not a Colliding One
A bumper is a car's protective bar. As an adjective it means unusually large, from an old word for a brimming glass.
A bumper is the bar at a car's front or rear that absorbs minor impacts. The adjective is a different word: a *bumper* was a glass filled to the brim for a toast, so a bumper crop is a full one, not a crashing one. The two senses look identical and have nothing to do with each other.
- A car's protective bar. *A dented bumper.*
- Unusually large. *A bumper harvest.*
- A brimming glass (archaic). *A bumper of claret.*
- Bumper-to-bumper — heavy traffic. *Bumper-to-bumper on the motorway.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bumper | A chrome bumper. |
| Plural | bumpers | Both bumpers. |
| Adjective | bumper | A bumper issue. |
| American | fender | A dented fender. |
| Compound | bumper sticker | A bumper sticker. |
How it is used in a sentence
- A bumper crop of apples.Unusually large.
- Traffic was bumper to bumper.Very slow.
- In cricket, a bumper is a short-pitched ball.A third, unrelated sense.
Where *bumper* means large
- Bumper crop — an exceptional harvest
- Bumper issue — a magazine with extra pages
- Bumper edition — a larger than usual release
- Bumper pack — a large quantity in one package
- Bumper year — one with unusually good results
From *bump*, of imitative origin, for the car part. The abundance sense comes from a seventeenth-century word for a full glass raised in a toast.
Bumper or fender?
Bumper is British and American for the bar itself. Fender in American English usually means the panel over the wheel, which Britain calls a wing.
Why does *bumper* mean large?
From an old sense meaning a glass filled to the brim, used when drinking a toast.