"bum around" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It means to spend time doing not very much, especially in an idle or leisurely way. For example, "Every summer, I like to just bum around for a few weeks."
In 1969, Cary Raditz, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina, quit his job in advertising and headed to Europe to bum around with his girlfriend.
Obviously, I've missed the odd party here and there, and unlike some friends I didn't take a gap year and get time to bum around and go to Thailand.
The movie is made up of the images Chris gleans with his video camera and follows the pair as they hang out, bum around, make love, go swimming, rent an apartment, look at art, recreate vignettes from the Bosch and discuss life, art, philosophy, history — you name it.
-- JANIS FRANKS, from "Lives During Wartime" TALK SHOW Bucky wore a long ponytail, a former girlfriend's name on a pectoral, back before tattoos were everywhere (when checking out the girls, he put a Band-Aid over it) and a pleasant manner; a sort of stock character of the early '70s, content to bum around, do some yard work for "bread" and invest it in a nickel bag he convivially shared.
Gizmodo.com wrote under the headline "Nerd Party," "Do you wish you were hanging out in line at the 5th Ave Apple Store, but are stuck with a pesky job that won't let you bum around with a bunch of nerds on a weekday?" So exactly what type of people can take all day, and in some cases several days, to wait in line for a cellphone?
"After university I felt pressured to do something career-wise, when actually I think I would have been happy to just bum around and work at HMV forever," says Lucy, 30.
For that matter, why is such a blandly intelligent man simply bumming around?
Bumming around, he reckons, has helped him conquer "a psychological state of self-destructive mayhem".
It's the early 1970s and Steve, who's dropped out of college, is bumming around, usually barefoot.
We were just bumming around on the beach enjoying ourselves before university; it was a lot of fun.
After the Armistice, Ross bummed around editorial posts in New York, including a brief stint at Judge, a humor magazine.
