Meaning

noun a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible

noun a disreputable vagrant

noun person who does no work

originAttested since the 1300s, as Middle English bom (found in John Trevisa's 1387 Translation of the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulph Higden, "his bom is oute"), of uncertain origin. Sometimes suggested to be a shortening of botme, botom, bottum (“bottom”), but this is contradicted by the fact that bottom is not attested in reference to the buttocks until the late 1700s. Suggested by some old and modern…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0