subs. (common).—A Billingsgate middle-man. These men, who are not recognised by the trade, are speculative buyers of fish. Hence, TO BUMMAREE IT = to speculate in fish.
1660. Public Intelligencer, 25 June, 17. Touching advice from the office, you are desired to give and take notice as followeth:— Of monies to be taken up, or delivered on botto-maria, commonly called BOMARIE. Of money to be put out or taken upon interest, etc.
1786. Report of Committee of City of London on Price of Provisions, 31. The BOMAREES will buy up half the fish the Salesmen have, and sell to the fishmongers.
1851. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, I. 71. In Billingsgate the ‘forestallers’ or middlemen are known as ‘BUMMAREES.’… The BUMMAREE is the jobber or speculator on the fish-exchange.
1859. G. A. SALA, Twice Round the Clock, 4 A.M., 17. Anyone can be a BUMBAREE … The process of BUMBAREEING is very simple. It consists in buying as largely as your means will afford of an auctioneer, hiring a stall for sixpence, and retailing the fish at a swinging profit.
1859. HOTTEN, The Slang Dictionary, s.v. BUMMAREES. The BUMMAREES are accused of many trade tricks. One of them is to blow up codfish with a pipe until they look double their actual size. Of course when the fish come to table they are flabby, sunken, and half dwindled away. In Norwich, to BUMMAREE one is to run up a score at a public-house just open, and is equivalent to running into debt with one.
