bumsicle

B3U1M3S1I1C3L1E1

noun

A homeless person afflicted with hypothermia as a result of living outdoors in winter.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounbumsicle (plural bumsicles)

plural bumsicles

  1. informalA homeless person afflicted with hypothermia as a result of living outdoors in winter.

    The 'bumsicle', as the jaded hospital doctors called him, had been frozen to the sidewalk and it took him and his partner a real solid effort to pry him off.

    2003 September 30, laurelc [username], “[atxc-pi] NEW: Popsicle toes (1/1)”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet)
    2 more examples

    […] “Apart from this guy, you been busy?” She shook her head. “Not the past two days. Not even a bumsicle.” She glanced at the steely sky. “That'll change. Snow tonight.”

    2008, Simon R. Green, “Lucy, at Christmastime”, in Charlaine Harris, Toni L. P. Kelner, editors, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, Ace Books, →ISBN

    A bad decision, maybe, but as a resident he'd seen it all too often—“bumsicles” found unconscious on busy sidewalks, rushed to the operating room and placed on cardiopulmonary bypass so their blood could be warmed.

    2014, Richard Van Anderson, The Organ Takers, White Light Press, →ISBN

Origin

From bum (“homeless person”) + -sicle.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bumsicle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumsicle

MLA

“bumsicle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumsicle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bumsicle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumsicle.

Source: bumsicle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.