I understand it to mean an unsophisticated attack, probably not armed, and probably depending largely on catching the victim off-guard.
But I am wondering if there is a more specific definition used perhaps in martial arts, or hand-to-hand combat training… Either as a skill to be learned, or a type of attack to be defended against.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bum’s_rush
see also: The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms - Google Books
It’s not an attack, it’s kicking someone out. Like a bouncer “escorting” a rowdy patron out of a bar.
Unless you’re playing FF III.
To give someone the “bum’s rush” is to expel someone: “The bartender gave the drunk the bum’s rush after the other patrons complained.”
To “bum-rush” something is to crash an event, like getting into a concert without paying: “We are going to time travel to 1989 and bum-rush a sold-out Public Enemy concert.”
At times like these i turn to the wisdom of UrbanDictionary.com[
](Urban Dictionary: Bum's Rush)There’s also a similar second def.
There’s also a lot of nonsense definitions there as well, so it doesn’t really help. Those nonsense definitions are probably what gave the OP the misconception to begin with.
The third definition has nothing to do with the OP’s question, but the second one merely explains that the bum’s rush may be the figurative form of a physical ouster, treating someone with the same disregared as a bum being ejected from an establishment.
Up, up-right, right, down-right, down, down-left, left, up-left.
The bum’s rush is usually depicted by having the bouncer grab the person by the collar and beltn and forcibly push him out the door. Other than cartoons and comics, I have no idea if it’s actually done this way, however; it might work for some people, but not for others.
In my social circle bums rush generally relates to how you are treated at a business. They don’t seem to want you there? Don’t seem terribly inclined to be helpful? Can’t seem to get you out of the door fast enough (wihout actually getting forceful or telling you to do so)?
Thats my local version of getting the “bum’s rush”
Of course I don’t hang around with people that would need the more direct and physical version of the bum’s rush.
It’s the “rush” part that always confused me. It’s not like bouncers go all-out for speed. I’ve always thought “the bum’s bounce” or “the bum’s heave” would have made more sense.
But nobody asked me.
I believe George and Clarence get the bum’s rush in “Its a wonderful life” from Nick’s. The rush part seems to come from the final push to make sure the bum is off balance and can not right himself when you let him go.
"We don’t have bums in our town, Marge, and if we did they wouldn’t rush, they’d be allowed to go at their own pace. "
I have also seen and heard it used to describe the very specific technique of grabbing someone’s hands, between their legs, from behind, to force them to stumble forward, off balance. It’s an effective way to gain control of someone. (The disadvantage is that it isn’t easy to get someone into that position. But once you do, they’re toast.)
That’s what you’re doing if you “bum rush” somebody (verb). “Bum’s rush” (noun) appears to mean something different.
Exactly this was dramatized, to exaggerated parody excess, in the James Bond movie “Diamonds Are Forever”. On the deck of a ship at sea, Bond gets one of the bad guys in this position and, just by pulling on his hands and arms (between the guy’s legs), hurls him overboard.
And it’s implied/acted by the obviously homosexual bad guy, that that pressure on his balls is slightly pleasurable.
I saw someone gets the classic bum’s rush like this maybe three months ago.
I was walking along the pavement in the early evening and a vagrant was physically chucked out in this style from a small grocers shop. It happened right in front of me and the bloke ended up in the street! He swore a bit at the grocer, who was standing in his doorway, and then wandered off…
I guess this is slightly different from “bum rush”? That’s the way I’ve always heard it and the definition for it on Urban Dic matches with my experience:
“The act of attacking someone or something (usually by a group) with the reckless abandon and fervor of one who has nothing to lose.”
Edit: missed a post upthread