English · Idiom Candidate

chum in the water

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Something that attracts people's attention or interest

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Điều gì đó thu hút sự chú ý hoặc quan tâm

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: bait in the water

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The new smartphone release was chum in the water for tech enthusiasts

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: Water

Common questions

What does “chum in the water” mean?

Something that attracts people's attention or interest Literally: bait in the water

Is “chum in the water” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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