How to Use chum in a Sentence

chum

1 of 2 noun
  • Drop it right on the perimeter of the chum slices, and be ready.
    — The Editors, Field & Stream, 4 June 2020
  • Late in the day, a 5-foot long blue shark swam into our chum slick.
    — Brian Skerry, National Geographic, 31 July 2020
  • The other thing is this is not just a group of Khan’s chums.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
  • That way, when the tuna show up the hooked baits blend in with the free-swimming chum.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
  • There was no chum or blood in the water and the sharks were unprovoked.
    — Li Cohen, CBS News, 27 June 2023
  • The two got on famously, and have been chums ever since.
    — Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Blood was in the water now, and the amuse-bouche had somehow become chum.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Feb. 2024
  • The latecomer could be an old school chum; the two men appear to be the same age.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 19 Jan. 2026
  • The problem starts with fishermen who wade out and are using chum near shore.
    — Warren Kulo | [email protected], al, 6 June 2023
  • Now, Byfield and chums are hitting their stride at the right moment.
    — Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 27 Mar. 2026
  • The innards dribble out into the water and act as chum.
    — Byron W. Dalrymple, Outdoor Life, 4 June 2026
  • The play’s three authors, once drama school chums, have given themselves the best roles.
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2023
  • With less chum around, Zeiser says the eagles will have a harder time catching fish.
    — Jenna Kunze, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Nov. 2020
  • Noel Fielding and new chum Matt Lucas are very much overused, to my taste.
    — Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2020
  • Republicans smell blood in the water, and Democrats are the chum.
    — Carolyn Fiddler, The New Republic, 7 Nov. 2022
  • My childhood chum, now a high school junior, presses her forefinger against pursed lips.
    — Various Staff Writers, Special Correspondents, and Special Contributors, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Dec. 2023
  • This election won’t be decided by the latest cable news chum.
    — Joe Garofoli, SFChronicle.com, 4 Sep. 2020
  • Even so, with some lobbying by a chum in the apparat, he was invited to join up.
    — Edward Kosner, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022
  • But unlike the two sequels that came later, this follow-up wasn't absolute chum.
    — Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 24 July 2023
  • But unlike the two sequels that came later, this follow-up wasn't absolute chum.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2026
  • For chum and sockeye salmon, fish in larger schools also had emptier stomachs.
    — Jason P. Dinh, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2022
  • Stars who were once reduced to front page blog chum have found spaces to publicly reflect on their experiences.
    — Aj Willingham, CNN, 14 July 2021
  • Truly the chum will be in the water starting in September and the sharks are circling.
    — Bruce Goldfarb, Forbes, 12 Aug. 2022
  • But Gallinari was not exactly swimming through a shark tank with chum attached to his feet.
    — Adam Himmelsbach, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2022
  • Carla Gallo adds some kicks as Sylvia’s podcasting chum.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2025
  • The whale’s floating body also forms a chum slick on the surface—a trail of blood, oil, and chunks of fat and flesh that might stretch for miles across the water.
    — Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2021
  • State and federal managers have announced chinook and chum closures for the middle and upper rivers too.
    — Olivia Ebertz, Anchorage Daily News, 23 June 2022
  • Drifting live baits in these areas while trailing a chum slick of cut bait and menhaden oil is also effective where sharks are not too abundant.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 15 Sep. 2021
  • The North American waters are home to five kinds of salmon—chinook or king, chum, coho, pink and sockeye.
    — Noma Nazish, Forbes, 26 June 2022
  • Chinook and chum are returning to those rivers in numbers so low that there’s barely enough to meet escapement targets for spawning.
    — Liz Ruskin, Anchorage Daily News, 23 June 2023

chum

2 of 2 verb
  • Other captains chum with chunks of frozen herring and even chunks of squid.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Heavy live chumming is preferable, but sometimes live pilchards are scarce.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
  • The Arkestra said to chum along, the party was only starting.
    — Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Anglers can also chum with a variety of frozen baits.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
  • We were taken diving without a cage in water that had been chummed with blood to attract sharks.
    — Michael H Gavshon, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2026
  • Some anglers chum the day or night before, then fish the following morning.
    — Jim Gronaw, Baltimore Sun, 23 July 2023
  • Some chase them down, others operate tours, and chum the water to attract them.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2021
  • Some chase them down, others operate tours, and chum the water to attract them.
    — Joe Mozingo, oregonlive, 16 May 2021
  • The biggest key to success is to chum, preferably with live bait like pilchards, although chunks of dead bait work just fine.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
  • To make matters worse, in the chumming scenes the water is flat calm — terrible for creating a slick.
    — Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 13 Mar. 2025
  • When catching fish, there will no doubt be blood and other things bringing sharks in, but chumming will almost always bring them in.
    — Jon Chapman, Miami Herald, 4 Aug. 2025
  • But the days of chumming to attract the marine animals could be coming to an end off Florida’s coast.
    — Kairi Lowery, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026
  • And unfortunately, Gay’s resignation will be like blood that further chums the water.
    — Charles Blow, The Mercury News, 9 Jan. 2024
  • Blackfin fanatics think nothing of heading offshore with 500 to 1,000 live pilchards for chumming and for bait.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
  • No surprise; as the world’s most valuable sports conglomerate, the NFL had both the power to insist, and the intelligence to stretch the process for five years to chum the water.
    — Jesse Silvertown, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
  • One of the biggest acts to come out of the now-defunct record label, the 16-time Grammy nominee chummed it up with the real estate tycoon during his reality TV heyday.
    — Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2024
  • From modifying gill nets to employing chumming techniques, fishers are innovating to enhance catch efficiency while minimizing environmental impact.
    — Melissa Cristina Marquez, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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