bum wine

1 9.9

Cheap wine that often tastes bad and is bought by people with little money

noun
/bʌm waɪn/

Offensive

: vino barato

He bought a bottle of bum wine for the party.

Examples

The shopkeeper kept the bum wine on the lowest shelf in the corner.
College students sometimes buy bum wine because it fits their budget.
He regretted drinking so much bum wine the next morning.
Many college students often drink bum wine on weekends.
Many college students enjoy drinking bum wine because it is affordable.
The party turned lively when someone brought a few bottles of bum wine.
After a long night out, he stumbled home with a cheap bottle of bum wine.

Synonyms

plonk

vsbum wine

Slang

1 9.5

A cheap wine of poor quality

is the same cheap quality but also tied to poorer social groups

jug wine

vsbum wine

1 4.3

A cheap wine that comes in large bottles and is usually low quality

is similar in cheapness but focuses on social association rather than packaging

Antonyms

fine wine

13 3.5

A high-quality drink made from grapes that often improves with age

How Cheap

plonk

Slang

1 9.5

bum wine

Offensive

1 9.9

table wine

1 2.9

fine wine

13 3.5

Surface Forms

bum wine singular

bum wines plural

Morphology

bum + wine

The meaning 'cheap or low-quality wine' is directly compositional from 'bum' (of low/unsatisfactory quality) + 'wine' (alcoholic beverage), so a learner who knows both words can predict the phrase meaning. Note that 'bum' is colloquial/slang, but the semantic combination is transparent and therefore readily inferable by a B1 learner.

Etymology

Bum wine likely comes from the slang word bum for a very poor or homeless person and wine for the drink. Cheap bottles were sold for very little money and often drunk by people on the street, so the name came to mean 'cheap' or 'low-quality' wine.